Not Permitted
by jade
Summary: AU. When Arima transfers into a new boarding school, his dorm mates prove to be much more than he could have ever expected. COMPLETED!
1. And This Is The Norm?

The wonderful semi soap opera-ish world of Kare Kano! This is a really weird AU, which I hope you'll enjoy. It's hard to explain what goes on in this story other then like everyone is at a boarding school. (Yeah a real stretch of the imagination there.) Normally at this hour of the morning I'd tell myself to go to bed but I can just sleep in speech class. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: Humor, very mild cussing mentions of shoujo-ai and shounen-ai!

Not Permitted

Chapter One

            "Maho, can you help me with these?" Miyazawa Yukino smoothed her chin length orange hair as she looked over her shoulder at the taller dark haired girl.

            "Hmm? I thought the almighty Yukino could do anything." Izawa Maho mocked as she picked up a suitcase. Yukino handed her another one and then put a bag around Maho's neck, weighing her down. Yukino herself was carrying a handbag. "Yukino! Carry some of this yourself!"

            "Ah, rats, foiled again." Yukino scrunched up her nose before taking the larger suitcase from her. 

            "How can you always be so lazy?" Maho shook her head in disbelief. The two girls had grown up together; their mothers were the very best of friends or in their words 'practically sisters.' The two mothers felt that it was only right that the two girls have the exact same relationship.

            At first, they hated each other. Well, Yukino didn't have any problems with Maho but Maho's mother had the unfortunate habit of pointing out Yukino's accomplishments and comparing Maho to them. Eventually they got past that and were now inseparable. 

            "Hey! Yukino! Maho!" Sakura Tsubaki waved them over. She was standing next to the other girls in their ring of friends, Shibahime Tsubasa, Sena Rika, and Sawada Aya. Shibahime looked around ten but was the same age as them and _hated being teased about it. Her green eyes were peering at the crowd as she was obviously looking for something._

            "What's going on?" Yukino came over and greeted all of them. Maho was a bit more reserved in her enthusiasm but was happy to see them none the less. 

            "Hi Yukino!" A group of students waved. Yukino waved like a princess and then grinned at her friends.

            "Another year of Yukino worshippers?" Maho groaned. 

            "Well, at least Asaba helps out a little." Aya pointed out. This was true, with his long dark honey colored hair; the boy was constantly surrounded by swooning girls. He waved at them, probably trying to get to them through the swarm of girls. He was the only boy in their group. 

            "There's nothing wrong with being admired." Yukino gracefully pushed her chin length hair back. "Especially if you're as naturally wonderful as me." All the others groaned. 

            "Who is Shibahime looking for?" Rika asked Aya who shrugged.

            "That would be her new stepbrother." Tsubaki grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

            "A-am not!" Shibahime immediately countered, her cheeks pinking. 

            "She told me all about him over the phone. 'Oh he's so wonderful and he's got the nicest ass!'" Tsubaki imitated. Shibahime glared.

            "Who is that?" Maho pointed at one of the students who seemed to amassing a fan following that could rival Asaba's. 

            "He must be new." Yukino frowned. It was okay that some of the students were devout Asaba worshippers but she didn't need more competition to be the most admired. Admiration and praise was what she enjoyed most in life, aside from certain other activities and if someone started to steal her spotlight…

            "It'll be okay Yukino." Tsubaki patted her on the shoulder. "Besides, if you get down, I'd be happy to cheer you up."

            "Down Tsubaki." Yukino giggled. 

            "Shibahime? What does your stepbrother look like?" Aya was looking out into the crowd, obviously having spotted someone. 

            "Oh, well, he's got blonde hair…why? Do you see him?" Shibahime hopped on Aya's back. 

            "Is that him?" Aya pointed out into the crowd. 

            "Yes! His name is Ikeda Kazuma!" Shibahime told them all excitedly. 

            "He's not bad looking." Aya commented. 

            "Shibahime's on the prowl." Yukino nudged Tsubaki. 

            "I assumed as much." Tsubaki saw out of the corner of her eye, someone coming towards her. "Great, how did he find me so fast?"

            "Your admirer?" Maho arched a perfect dark brow. 

            "Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy but he's kind of…well…desperate…it's not all that appealing…" Tsubaki explained slowly. 

            "Yeah, Tsubaki only likes what she can't have." Yukino winked. Tsubaki suddenly pinched the orange-haired girl's bottom and Yukino jumped up in the air in surprise. 

            "Hi Tsubaki! I wrote you during the summer but you didn't write me back. Did you get any of my letters?" The group was suddenly joined by Takefumi Tonami. 

            "Oh, hey Tonami." Tsubaki put on a pained grin. "Uh, no I didn't get any letters."

            "Oh…" Tonami looked a little put out. "Well, that's okay. I've got so much to tell you about! We can go get the room assignments and then we could probably hang out until the banquet."  

            "Later Takefumi." Hideaki Asaba finally joined their group and put his arm around Tsubaki's shoulders. "Tsubaki and I have a lot of… _catching up to do." He emphasized the phrase.  _

            "Sure, later." Tonami backed away from the group. Tsubaki and Asaba collapsed in laughter. 

            "Asaba! Are you going to say hi?" Yukino grinned at him. 

            "To one of my favorite little sheep?" Asaba ignored everyone who rolled their eyes at him referring to all girls as sheep. "Of course! Hello Yukino." Then he turned towards the others. "You're all looking better then ever. Oh! Is that Shibahime's new stepbrother?" Asaba pointed at the blonde haired young man approaching them. "Lucky girl!" 

            "Hi Shibahime." Kazuma greeted her. "I thought I had lost you in that crowd." 

            "Let's go get our room assignments." Shibahime suggested and the two walked off, Shibahime completely forgetting to introduce him to the others. 

            "That was nice." Aya crossed her arms dejectedly. "Is Shibahime going to ditch us?" 

            "No way! We're un-ditchable." Yukino posed. 

            "Hey! Is that one of the new kids?" Asaba pointed to the same boy that Maho had pointed to. "Good-bye ladies!" 

            "Sheesh, that guy is such a lech sometimes." Tsubaki shook her head. 

            "Kind of like you Tsubaki." Yukino grinned at the short-haired girl. 

            "Or like you Yukino." Maho teased.

            "I'm not nearly as bad as those two." Yukino sniffed primly. 

            "Suuuuuuuuuuure." Tsubaki joined in the teasing. 

            "Let's go get room assignments! I don't want to stand by our luggage all day." Aya suggested. Her and Rika grabbed each other's hands and ran off towards the table with their luggage. 

            "Did those two have another good summer?" Yukino asked Tsubaki. 

            "It would appear so." Tsubaki waved a hand in the air. "They live down the street from each other so probably." 

            "We might as well get in line." Maho and the other two girls started to head off towards the table to wait in line. 

*                                              *                                              *

            "Both of you?" Maho whined as she looked at her room assignment card.

            "Lucky!" Yukino exclaimed as she looked down at her card. "You, me, and Asaba! Tsubaki will so be hanging out in our room all the time! Who's Souchirou Arima?" 

            "Hmm…I don't recognize the name." Maho shrugged. "Besides, I thought you knew everyone in the school." 

            "It must be that boy we saw earlier…" Yukino once more frowned. She thought back to the boy with his black hair sexily arranged in an almost messy style. And those eyes… 

            "I think Asaba's got dibs on him." Maho commented as if she could read Yukino's thoughts. 

            "Asaba's not the sex god of the universe." Yukino sniffed. "He can't just get anyone into bed. You're living proof." 

            "And you're not." Maho smiled in a mocking manner. 

            "Hey, we all have our days." Yukino shrugged as if it were no big deal. "Besides, who said I wanted this…Arima guy anyways? I do have studies to tend to." 

            "Oh who cares about that?" Maho began walking towards the rooms.

            "This year is going to suck!" Tsubaki came up behind them. "You won't believe who I have to room with!" 

            "Tonami?" Yukino guessed from the look on Tsubaki's face.

            "Yeah! And Shibahime and her stepbrother!" Tsubaki sighed. "At least we're only two rooms away." 

            "I'll get way more studying done this year." Yukino reminded her. "Last year I'm lucky I passed." 

            "That's probably why you two aren't in a room together anymore." Maho tossed her long black hair over her shoulder. 

            The three climbed the stairs with their luggage and found their respective rooms. Asaba was already in Yukino and Maho's room, bouncing around happily. He flopped down on the sofa and stretched out. 

            "Can you believe our good luck?" Asaba sighed. "All together in a room with that hot new boy…" 

            "Tsubaki's only two rooms down." Yukino pointed a finger in the direction of Tsubaki's room. Asaba leapt off the couch and went out the door before they could say anything else.

            "Oh Tsubaki!" They heard him singing as he pranced into her room. 

            "Those two…" Maho shook her head. They started to go towards their room when a voice stopped them.

            "Excuse me." A male voice caused them to turn. It seemed that Souchirou Arima was indeed who they thought he was. He was giving them a friendly smile. 

            "Hello!" Yukino gave him a sunny look. "Are you Souchirou Arima?"

            "Yes." Arima began to wheel his luggage into the room. "These dorms are a lot bigger then my last school so I kind of got lost. Luckily I got a map." 

            "Hmm, well I'm Miyazawa Yukino and this is Izawa Maho." Yukino gestured towards Maho who was studying him with her usual ice-like expression. 

            "And we've already met." Asaba was leaning against the doorframe with a seductive air. He lifted his eyes to Arima's face. "Haven't we?" He went flying forward as Tsubaki tackled him from behind unexpectedly. He was sprawled out on the ground with Tsubaki sitting on top of him on her knees.

            "Haha, sucker!" Tsubaki told Asaba triumphantly. 

            "Hey, Tsubaki, Shibahime said that there's a scrunchy rule." Tonami came into view. "What does that mean?" Arima and Tonami were the only ones who didn't start cracking up immediately. Yukino and Tsubaki ran towards the doorframe to yell towards the other dorm room.

            "Are you testing out the rule already Shibahime?" Yukino called out. 

            "Careful Ikeda, she's a real animal!" Tsubaki commenced making cat noises. 

            "You two probably are!" Shibahime's voice called back. A few moments she and Kazuma had come out of their rooms and proceeded to the room with everyone else in it. "Your rooms are bigger!" Shibahime complained.

            "We need more room." Yukino and Asaba cracked at the same time. Shibahime groaned.

            "You should have known better then to say anything." Maho rolled her eyes. 

            "Are you all friends?" Arima asked curiously, obviously a bit lost by what they were talking about.

            "Yes we are." Tonami began to walk into the room but Asaba stopped him. 

            "Oh, Tonami, it's so crowded in here. Come back later, it's boring in here anyways." Asaba shut the door before Tonami could begin to protest. 

            "That was mean." Yukino faked a shocked and hurt look. 

            "We're all friends." Maho turned towards Arima. "On varying levels." 

            "Varying levels? What does that mean?" Shibahime blinked her large green eyes. "Are you referring to-"

            "Oh bad Shibahime! What would your mother say?" Tsubaki patted Shibahime on the head. Shibahime kicked Tsubaki in the shins. "Ow! I'm sorry!"

            "Serves you right." Shibahime told her sternly. 

            "Can I just live in your guys' room?" Tsubaki jumped into her pleading. Asaba put his arms around her. 

            "Love to; really I would, but…" Asaba trailed off. "How would I get any work done?" 

            "Are you two going out?" Arima asked, still completely lost. Asaba and Tsubaki both began laughing again.

            "Sorry…Asaba in a relationship…" Tsubaki shook her head. "No we aren't. We're just kind of…" She trailed off in her explanation.

            "Screwing?" Shibahime supplied. Arima's eyes widened. 

            "At such a young age, you shouldn't be talking about such things." Asaba wagged a finger at her. Shibahime jumped on Tsubaki's back and pretended to try to attack him when he got close. 

            "Hey, you guys?" Tonami's voice came through the door. "The banquet is in half an hour." They all went quiet, pretending there was no one there. 

            "You know, maybe you should just um, spend some 'quality time' with Tonami." Yukino whispered to Tsubaki. "It's kind of obvious that he wants to." 

            "Eh, I don't know." Tsubaki shrugged. "It's like I said, he's kind of desperate and it's not all that appealing. Maybe, he's got a nice body." 

            "Well he needs to get it out of his system." Yukino told her dryly. "I'm going to go change into my uniform." 

            "I'll help anyone change who can't do it themselves!" Asaba volunteered. He nudged Maho suggestively. 

            "No thanks." Maho spoke coldly. "Go help Arima." Asaba grinned. 

            "There's a banquet?" Arima said questioningly, obviously having given up on figuring out the group of friends. "I think I read about that in the brochure…"

            "Oh yeah it's great!" Asaba began to lead Arima away into their room. 

            "I guess I'll go back to my room now." Tsubaki cast a spare glance in Asaba's direction before opening the door. Tonami was gone and the three headed back to join him in their room. 

            "Hey, Maho, you don't have to be so cold." Yukino grabbed her arm. "It's okay." 

            "I'm not trying to." Maho sighed. "It's just…" 

            "I know; it's weird for me sometimes too. To jump right back into this routine." Yukino shrugged. "So, wanna take bets on how much time it takes for Aya to get caught with cigarettes?"

            "Two days." Maho guessed in a way that made it seem like she knew.

            "I give her a week." Yukino pronounced. "After all, she's getting sneakier."

*                                              *                                              *

            The banquet was an elaborate affair; some parents who couldn't bear to part with their children were attending it, plus the teachers, and lots of administrators. The students were supposed to be on their very best behavior. 

            "This food sure is good." Tonami exclaimed to Tsubaki, whom he had claimed the seat right next to.

            "Yeah, Tonami." Tsubaki looked across the table at Yukino and licked her lips slowly. Yukino started to laugh. 

            "So, are the classes here hard?" Arima inquired. 

            "Asaba is." Tsubaki cracked quietly but Arima didn't hear her. 

            "A little." Yukino shrugged. "As long as you stay caught up in your studies, you'll do fine." 

            "That's good…um, Yukino was it?" Arima smiled at her. Yukino found herself smiling back in a way she knew wasn't exactly friendly. Maybe she spent too much time with Asaba and Tsubaki. 

            "Yeah." Yukino breathed. "Where are you from?" 

            "Tokyo." Arima told her. 

            "So am I!" Yukino exclaimed. Tsubaki took the opportunity while Yukino was distracted to hit her with a carrot stick. 

            "Oh you are so going down!" Yukino fired a forkful of mashed potatoes at Tsubaki. 

            "You guys have a weird food fetish." Asaba said with a weird tone. Then his eyes lit up. "That could be really interesting." 

            "You pervert!" Shibahime stood up and poured her glass of water on the guy sitting next to her. 

            "Hey! Did you just grab her?" Kazuma grabbed the collar of the guy. 

            "Uh, uh no." The guy was obviously lying. Kazuma let go of him. 

            "Get out of here now before I decide to get violent." Kazuma told him. The guy scrambled off. Shibahime sat back down huffily. "Don't worry about it, Shibahime."

            "Dare I ask why Asaba and Tsubaki just ducked under the table?" Aya asked from where she was sitting next to Rika. 

            "I dropped my napkin!" Tsubaki's hand shot up from under the table and she waved a napkin around. 

            "Yeah, I was just helping her." Asaba and Tsubaki got back into their chairs. 

            "Gee, Asaba is such a gentleman." Yukino teased them. "Not many guys are chivalrous enough to help a girl get a napkin." 

            "I try to be." Asaba put on a noble face. 

            "You two could at least wait until after the banquet." Maho daintily drank from her glass. 

            "Yeah, we have to get some dessert." Tsubaki's double meaning was not lost on anyone. 

            "Don't forget the scrunchy rule." Yukino quipped. 

            "What is the scrunchy rule?" Tonami asked them curiously. After the laughter subsided, amazingly, Maho was the one who answered his question.

            "If there's a scrunchy on a doorknob, there's more then one person inside and they do not want to be disturbed." Maho explained.

            "You people need to settle down." A teacher reprimanded them. 

            "Okay!" They all went quietly back to their dinner for the rest of the time. Yukino knew that this year was going to be the very best one that they ever had.  

*                                              *                                              *

            The end. I mean of this chapter. Sheesh. That would be a weird story. I know I'm breaching into slightly uncharted territory with this but um, ya' know. Why not? When inspiration strikes! Please read and review. ^_^.


	2. Fruit Loops and Arima

After much planning and fun with Teresa, I decided that I so had to type the second chapter! This story is just too fun. And yeah. Thanks so much for your reviews! I really, really appreciated everyone who reviewed my story and decided it was a good read. Tenshineko, your review had me in tears I was laughing so hard. "Kare Kano on aphrodisiacs." I almost changed the summary to that I thought it was so great! So yeah, I hope everyone loves this newest installment.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: Cussing, sexual themes, blatant shoujo-ai and shounen-ai.

Not Permitted

Chapter Two

            Arima rubbed his eyes as his alarm clock went off. He supposed it would have been easier to get out of bed if he had just told his new roommates to keep it down last night but he didn't want to disturb them. They had been throwing a party for being back at school together again. He was sure they weren't like that all the time. They were probably really responsible students. 

            He went out to the common area where Yukino and Maho were eating cereal on the couch, Asaba and Tsubaki were stringing lights around the fire sprinkler pipes that went across the ceiling. 

            "Good morning!" Yukino waved at him as she spotted him. 

            "Uh, good morning." Arima smiled at her as she went back to her cereal. 

            "Okay, plug 'em in Tsubaki!" Asaba exclaimed as they finished. 

            "Ta da!" Tsubaki plugged them in and the string lights, though dim in the morning light glowed. They had chosen blue, purple, and red. Yukino and Maho stopped eating to clap for the two who bowed. 

            "I thought we weren't supposed to string lights on those." Arima pointed out in confusion. 

            "Yeah, we aren't." Asaba unplugged them. Arima wished he could figure out the strange group of friends but it was a bit mind boggling. 

            "Are we allowed to bring food up from the kitchens to our rooms?" Arima inquired. All four of them made a face at him.

            "Food?" Asaba looked like he was wilting.

            "From the kitchens?" Tsubaki grimaced. 

            "No, we never eat down there. They give us mini kitchens and we just eat in here. Buy our own groceries and stuff." Yukino gestured towards the kitchen. "Since you're new, you can eat our stuff but you'll probably want to start buying your own."

            "I don't like sharing." Asaba winked at Arima. Arima was beginning to wonder about Hideaki Asaba, he was a bit…_overly _friendly. 

            "Gooooooooooooood morrrrrrrrrrrrning!" Shibahime whirled into the room as Arima went to go eat some of the cereal. 

            "Shibahime has no poker face. You can always tell when she's had sex." Tsubaki sighed. 

            "I just happen to be a morning person." Shibahime sniffed. "And I brought my favorite cereal with me!" 

            "Who gave Shibahime sugar?" Kazuma entered the room. 

            "Hey Kazuma!" Everyone greeted him as if he were apart of the group. Arima spotted something on the counter. It was a coffee can, covered in lewd pictures. He felt stupid asking all a bunch of questions but he really did want to socialize with his roommates. 

            "What's this?" Arima gestured towards the coffee can on the counter. 

            "Party fund!" Tsubaki and Yukino exclaimed together.

            "Party fund?" Arima raised his eyebrows. 

            "You wouldn't believe how much money it takes sometimes." Aya stepped into their room with Rika. "I swear my older sister puts a tax on things." She lit up a cigarette. 

            "Hey! No smoking!" Yukino teased. Arima felt like his eyes were going to pop out. Cigarettes? Party fund? What was wrong with his new roommates? Maybe he should have stayed at his old boarding school. But this one had the best reputation for academics. Had he been put with the only people who didn't care about grades? 

            "Hey guys, what's everyone eating for breakfast?" Tonami was about to come into the room when Asaba closed the door in his face.

            "Oh! Sorry Tonami! The door won't open for some reason. I think it's broken." Asaba called through the door. "We're trying to get it fixed."

            "That was the lamest lie you've ever told." Tsubaki rolled her eyes.

            "It's okay." Tonami could be heard trudging off to his room. 

            "He believed it." Asaba put up his hands defensively. "Besides I've told way lamer lies. Remember the time I told you that we had to have sex because I needed to pop my back?" 

            "What kind of sex do you two _have_?" Shibahime asked with a weirded out expression. "Popping your back? And you actually went with it Tsubaki?"

            "Oh gods, it was back in the days of 'We only have sex if we can think of a good reason.' I'm so glad those days are over." Tsubaki sighed. 

            "The good ole' days." Asaba sat down next to Yukino. "Back in the days when we thought Yukino was straight as an arrow." 

            "I still maintain I'm straighter then you." Yukino told him. 

            "Okay, this Fruit Loop," Tsubaki held up a Fruit Loop for reference. "Is straighter then Asaba." 

            "I can't argue with that." Asaba smiled directly at Arima who immediately looked down at his cereal and turned his full attention to it. 

            "Yuck." Yukino examined her schedule. "Why do I have a math class first thing in the morning?" Arima had memorized his schedule last night.

            "I have a math class first thing in the morning too. Trigonometry?" Arima guessed. 

            "Hey, we have a class together! Good because no one else had it on their schedule." Yukino sighed with relief. 

            "When do classes start?" Asaba threw a mini-football at Tsubaki who caught it expertly. 

            "The same time they do every year. Eight in the morning. It's seven." Maho informed them. 

            "Oh man, I'm going to go get ready." Tsubaki sulked as she began to leave. 

            "You can get ready in my room!" Asaba offered. 

            "No…I want to go to class with my clothes on…" Tsubaki kept on trudging. "I'll come back right after I get ready." 

            "Score! Before class quickie!" Asaba did a little dance. 

            "We're going to go too." Aya and Rika disappeared after Shibahime and Kazuma. 

            "I don't wanna put on my stupid uniform." Asaba pouted. Yukino patted him on the back. 

            "It's okay. I'll braid your hair pretty for you if you want." Yukino told him comfortingly. Asaba immediately brightened.

            "Really? Oh thank you Yukino!" Asaba kissed her before prancing out of the common area into his own room. 

            "So…is Asaba, um…" Arima tried to broach the subject. Yukino was giggling at his obvious embarrassment. 

            "Gay? No, he's bi. You could say that he couldn't be exclusive to anything, not even a gender." Yukino put her bowl in the sink and filled it with water. "Why? Are you interested in him?" 

            "No, I was just curious." Arima went a little blue in the face. "Are you all…?" 

            "Yeah. Well, I've never seen Maho with another guy but we won't get into that." Yukino went on as if it wasn't a big deal. 

            "Oh." Arima decided he didn't feel like finishing his cereal. He put it in the sink. Yukino touched his arms with her fingertips. 

            "Don't worry, it's not catching." Yukino smiled wryly.

            "I have nothing against it or anything! I just wasn't expecting…" Arima trailed off. 

            "You get used to it. Or you end up just transferring out. Last year I had a roommate who did that. She really couldn't handle even hearing us talk about it." Yukino shrugged. 

            "No, I'm fine with it. Really." Arima told her. "I guess I wasn't expecting that in my roommates." 

            "Well, we breed 'em differently down here." Yukino joked, punching him in the arm. "You should probably start getting ready. By the way, we already all took showers so um; there might not be a whole lot of hot water. You should get up earlier. The trick is to beat Asaba there." 

            "I'll remember that." Arima was glad that he could get along with his roommates. Maybe with time they'd accept him into the group. Yukino turned and left the room. Arima went back to his room, full of questions but not sure how to ask them.

*                                              *                                              *

            "Not interested in him, huh?" Maho snapped Yukino out of her thoughts. Yukino realized she had been staring at her skirt for the past five minutes. 

            "What? I'm just a little tired." Yukino waved her hand flippantly. "You're getting paranoid." 

            "I'm allowed to." Maho, who was already dressed, sat down on Yukino's bed in front of her. Yukino pulled on her skirt before tucking in her shirt carefully. Then she put on the small tie. 

            "How do I look?" Yukino posed sexily. 

            "Good." Maho lay back on the bed. "Do you think Asaba is the only one who should get a 'before class quickie' as he so eloquently put it?" Yukino lay down next to her. They began kissing for a few minutes. 

            "You know…" Yukino spoke as Maho began to kiss on her jaw line. "Asaba's going to come in here and want his hair braided."

            "He's such a little kid." Maho frowned. 

            "We might as well get in as much as we can." Yukino entangled a hand into Maho's long soft black locks. 

            "Yukino! You promised to braid my hair!" Asaba came gliding into the room. "Hey! You guys are supposed to put a scrunchy on the doorknob! Carry on, I'll watch." Maho rolled her eyes and got up, kissing Yukino on the cheek before going out of the room. 

            "Come on Asaba." Yukino got out her hair things and Asaba giddily bounced on her bed before getting settled. She brushed his hair and began to put it in an intricate braid. She finished it off with a purple ribbon to hold his hair together.

            "Yahhhhhhhh!" Asaba cheered. "You make my hair prettiest!" 

            "How you manage to keep up the semblance of being straight is beyond me." Yukino shook her head before smiling up at him. "So what do you think of Arima?" 

            "He's hot." Asaba commented. "I think he's a little different from us and he doesn't look like he's had a lot of fun times in his life. Good thing he got assigned to our room." 

            "You just want to score with him." Yukino accused in a joking manner. Asaba put his hands to his face and pretended to be embarrassed.

            "Oh! How can you tell?" Asaba giggled before he stopped acting. "So Yukino…you come into this room often?" 

            "Like you need to give me pick-up lines." Yukino rolled her eyes. "Isn't Tsubaki coming back for that sort of thing?" 

            "She can join us." Asaba bent down to kiss Yukino's throat. 

            "You know I'm not into that whole threesome thing." Yukino let him kiss her. Asaba had to be the most experienced of all of them, the only one who came close was Tsubaki but according to the two of them, Asaba was more experienced. 

            "Never too late to try." Asaba murmured in her ear as they started to kiss more and more. Yukino figured that if Tsubaki did come, she could just make out with Maho before class. 

*                                              *                                              *

            "Good morning Yukino!"

            "Hi Yukino!" 

            "How are you Yukino?" 

            "You sure know a lot of people." Arima commented as the two of them walked to class. Yukino stopped waving at people to address him.

            "Well, it's probably because I'm such good friends with Asaba and Tsubaki." Yukino explained. "You're not doing too badly yourself." 

            "I don't really know anyone…" Arima felt himself blushing a little. He wondered if Yukino noticed she was putting a double meaning on a lot of her phrases. The whole group did. Asaba usually winked with everything he said or you could see him holding back a wink. 

            "You will! You will!" Yukino skipped a few steps. "It's easy to make friends here."

            "Yukino's a ho!" Tsubaki called out as she ran by, closely followed by Asaba whose braid was flying out behind him. 

            "And?" Yukino raised her eyebrows at the two giggling friends. They both ducked into a classroom. 

            "You all have a weird sense of humor." Arima stated. 

            "Keeps things interesting. Hey, you know…" Yukino turned her head towards him. "We're going to have a party tonight, ya' know a sort of a 'celebrate the first day of school' thing." 

            "But we have class tomorrow." Arima began in alarm. 

            "I know that." Yukino made it seem like it was stupid to remind her. "Anyways, you are going to come out of your room tonight, right? Why did you stay in your room last night? Were you tired?"

            "Um, kinda." Arima lied. The truth was that he felt weird going out there with all of them because he didn't know anyone and it made him feel awkward. 

            "So, you'll come tonight? It'll be lots of fun." Yukino said temptingly. Arima hesitated. He did have class the next day and he might have homework and other things to do. 

            "I'll think about it." Arima finally answered. 

            "Great." Yukino made it seem like he had said yes. "We contributed to the fund all summer and even though we used some last night, Aya's sister will have had time to get party favors." Arima had a feeling that Yukino wasn't talking about the same type of party favors that he was thinking of. 

            "Sounds fun." Arima said weakly. He decided that he should probably be responsible and not go out and party on a Monday night. 

*                                              *                                              *

            Arima tried to concentrate on an essay he was supposed to be writing for English all about his favorite themes in literature. He was finding it increasingly difficult to write. They were being really loud out there. Arima stopped writing finally when he decided there was no way he could work like this. He decided to call it a night early and go to bed. 

            He turned off his light and snuggled under the covers but he could hear the activities outside his room pretty clearly.

            "A full house does not beat three of a kind!" Tsubaki's voice could be heard arguing. 

            "Does too! You're thinking of four of a kind!" Yukino argued. 

            "It doesn't matter, Asaba lost." Maho's calm voice quieted the arguing. 

            "Asaba is losing really badly tonight." Shibahime pointed out to everyone. 

            "He's probably doing it on purpose." Yukino quipped. Arima put his pillows over his head. "That way he can have an excuse to walk around naked." 

            "I don't need an excuse!" Asaba proclaimed. 

            "Keep your clothes on!" Aya and Shibahime chorused. 

            "Oh fine. You guys are no fun." Asaba had obviously given up. "Hey, where's Arima?" Arima's ears perked at hearing his name. 

            "I dunno. I told him he could come out here and party with us but I guess he's tired or something." Yukino told them. 

            "You should go wake him up." Arima groaned. He could practically see Asaba wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Yukino. 

            "Nah let him sleep." Yukino sounded disinterested. "Besides, he's going to need all his rest if he's going to run from you." 

            "Yeah, if he doesn't run fast enough…well, let's just say I remember your last three roommates. They thought they were straight." Tsubaki whistled. Arima tried to drown out the conversation a little more by pressing the pillows to his head. 

            Arima tried to imagine being out there, joking with all of them. It was a pleasant mental image but he was sure he just wouldn't fit in with all of them. They were practically in another world. 

            "There are people who don't sleep with Asaba." Yukino brought up as if they were having an intelligent and mature debate.

            "Who?" Asaba and Tsubaki demanded together.

            "Maho-" 

            "I tried!"

            "Tonami-"

            "No thank you."

            "Arima-"

            "Only a matter of time."

            "The list goes on and on." Yukino concluded. 

            "Maybe Yukino has decided she has dibs on him!" Rika teased. 

            "I do not have dibs on anyone." Yukino sniffed. 

            "I have dibs on sex!" Asaba joined in helpfully. The others all groaned at him. 

            Arima had never felt so lonely before, so cut off from everything. 

*                                              *                                              *

            Lots of sex! Or something. Yeah. I don't really have a lot to say right now other then I'm thinking of formulating an official soundtrack for this fic. Yeah, I have waaaaaay too much time on my hands. R+R!


	3. Oh Gods, Asaba's Doing Theme Songs

Poor Arima. I guess…I dunno. Anyways, this story just keeps getting written kind of like Never Quite As It Seems. I was only going to do one chapter of that but I ended up writing fifteen. I figure that if I accidentally finish a story then I could just put up chapters for it. That's my new amendment to the 'three stories at a time' rule. ~_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano. Tempting as it is to say I do.

Warnings: More sexual stuff, shounen-ai, shoujo-ai. 

Not Permitted

Chapter Three

            "So if I divide this equation by three I get the answer?" Asaba asked Yukino hopefully. She studied the problem for a few moments and nodded. Asaba sighed in relief. 

            "Asaba, you know, Yukino does have her own work to do." Tsubaki told the honey-haired boy who looked hopelessly lost as he moved onto the next problem.

            "But she's so smart!" Asaba tried to defend. "I don't know how to do this!" 

            "Here I'll help you." Tsubaki sat with her legs on either side of Asaba who was sitting on the floor. 

            "Can you give me a back rub too?" Asaba looked up at her with large eyes. 

            "If you do five more problems, yes." Tsubaki agreed. She began to explain to him what to do. 

            "What are you guys doing?" Arima asked as he came in, seeing Yukino, Asaba, Maho, and Tsubaki gathered on the couches. 

            "Homework." Asaba muttered grumpily. 

            "Studying." Yukino gave Asaba a sympathetic pat on the hand. 

            "Hey, great, can I study with you guys?" Arima's eyes lit up as he realized that they were doing something that he could join right into. The past three weeks he had been doing almost nothing but studying. 

            "Nothing stopping you." Tsubaki gestured towards the couches. Arima set down his stuff and started to get out his homework. 

            "It's the amazing Arima! Here to study with us!" Asaba proceeded to make up a theme song with no words to go along with Arima. The others laughed at Asaba, but Arima just sort of smiled. Why did he have to feel so out of it?

            Arima turned towards Yukino who seemed to be the one working the hardest. With that concentrated look and her school uniform on, she was the very picture of the model student. 

            "So, have you gotten that English paper done yet?" Arima asked her. 

            "Almost." Yukino smiled at him. "I'm just a little confused on what the teacher meant when he said that-"

            "Wow, Asaba is doing his homework?" Shibahime and Kazuma, who seemed to be joined at the hip, sat down with them all on the couches. "On a Friday?" 

            "Oh no! What time is it?" Asaba looked up from his math problems in alarm. "Tsubaki and I still have to chop up that fruit! Tsubaki, can we stop yet? I'm almost done." Tsubaki took one look down at Asaba's not even halfway done paper and shrugged. 

            "We can do the rest later." Tsubaki ruffled his hair. "Let's get to that kitchen!" 

            "Fruit? Let me guess…body shots?" Maho raised her eyebrows at them. 

            "May-be!" Asaba and Tsubaki sang together. 

            "Arima, are you going to stay out here?" Yukino turned to the dark-haired young man. 

            "Um…I have a lot of work to do." Arima began hesitantly. 

            "Maybe Yukino can _convince_ him." Tsubaki called out slyly from the small kitchen area. Arima tried not to think about what 'convincing' him might entail. 

            "You study every night." Yukino's voice hinted at a whine. "I mean, I know you've got a lot to do, but so do the rest of us. We still have time for fun." 

            "If he doesn't want to, then he doesn't have to." Maho put a hand on Yukino's shoulder. 

            "I know that, but still…" Yukino turned back towards Arima. "You know what they say, 'All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.'" Arima sort of bowed his head and started to put his books away. 

            "Jack's always been a dull boy, I guess." Arima got up and went into his room. All the other people in the room looked at each other at once. Arima didn't notice as he closed the door behind him and flopped down on the bed.

            In his life, grades were most important. His parents made that very clear with him for a long time. 

            _"Remember your grades Arima." _

He had always been around people who didn't have fun until their homework for a month in advance had been done, and then their fun consisted mostly of quiet activities or sports. And now he had been given another side of the spectrum.

            _"We're playing Spin the Bottle Arima, come play with us!"_

_            "That paper is not even due for another two weeks!" _

The other roommates were always having fun. Oh, they didn't party every night, but they always did seem to be part of some big never-ending roller coaster ride that Arima couldn't even get tickets to. They kept trying to include him, but maybe they felt obligated to. They probably wouldn't notice him at all if he hadn't been assigned to this room. 

            "Jack's a dull boy…" Arima murmured to himself as he thought of the others who were laughing at something. They all knew some joke that he didn't get. Besides the fact that they were all a bit shocking. He had learned many things around them that he knew he'd never learn in a class.

            He learned that two girls making out on the couch was normal. He learned that Asaba hitting on _anybody_ was perfectly acceptable. He learned that he was lucky when Asaba didn't have any 'friends' over for the night so that _he_ had to sleep out in the common area. He learned that when people were running late, sharing showers together was as normal as taking one by yourself. He learned that if Aya wasn't smoking, something was wrong. So many new tidbits of information. 

            Pulling up the chair to his desk, Arima started to shuffle through his notes and papers. Sitting around moping wasn't going to get him anywhere, now was it? 

            Three hours later, everything was done and the party had obviously gotten into full swing. He wished he was brave enough to just go out there himself and have some fun. That's when the door opened and in waltzed Asaba.

            "We're going to watch The Matrix! Come out and watch with us!" Asaba pleaded with him. Arima suspected that Asaba was not entirely sober. "Please?"

            "No, I'm getting tired." Arima faked a yawn. 

            "You know…you shouldn't sit in here studying all the time." Asaba went on. 

            "That's why we're at school, to learn." Arima reminded him. 

            "Yeah, yeah. We're at school to learn the important stuff! The stuff teachers can't teach us. Useful stuff. Not like algebra and all that." Asaba waved his hand in a circle. "I'm talking about people. We're here to learn how to socialize and how to interact with others!" 

            "That's not very responsible. What are you going to do when you realize that you've partied away your school years?" Arima asked him seriously. 

            "In fifty years, I'm going to look back on my school years and say, 'If I could go back, I would have done it all the same!' You're going to look back and say, 'I wasted all my time studying, and look at my life now.' These are the best years that we're gonna have." Asaba sounded very persuasive and Arima felt himself waning.

            "I just…I don't know…" Arima trailed off. Could he go out there? He had done all his homework but he just wasn't sure. 

            "Come on, we've got popcorn and everything, it'll be fun." Asaba assured him. 

            "I…no. No thanks. Like I said, I'm really tired." Arima faked another yawn. Asaba had a disappointed pout gracing his features before he left the room. Arima _did feel bad. They were trying to include him but he was pushing them out because he was afraid that if he gave in once, he might be sucked into a world that he wasn't sure it was so easy to step out of again. _

            Arima slipped into bed, there was really no point staying awake at this point. 

*                                                          *                                                          *

            He stared at his clock, adjusting his glasses. He had taken to adjusting his glasses every two minutes. That was thirty times in an hour. Seven hundred twenty times in a period of twenty-four hours. 

            _You're not doing your work!_

However, Arima could not motivate himself. He was re-reading a paragraph for about the millionth time. He wasn't getting anything done and he knew it. A loud cheer from the next room rose and Arima knew that they were probably playing some game. He tried not to groan. 

            Then something rather unexpected happened.

            Now, during the nights when the others were partying, Asaba usually came in once a night to try to convince him that he should come out and join in the 'festivities' as he called them. Tonight when the door opened, Arima turned only slightly, expecting Asaba. Instead, it was Yukino. 

            He blinked several times in surprise at her. Yukino eased into the room, shutting the door behind her, muffling yet another cheer. The group was yelling things that made Arima's face burn up. However, Yukino didn't seem fazed by this at all.

            "Hi Arima." Yukino greeted him, walking gracefully across the room and then she proceeded to sit on top of Arima's desk, pushing his textbooks aside to do so. 

            "Hi Yukino." Arima echoed in a similar tone. "What are you doing in here?"

            "Oh…well, you see…" Yukino made Arima's eyes grow round by scooting across the desk so that she could put her legs up on the desk, looking at him and propping herself with her arms stretched out behind her. "I was wondering if you would join us tonight." 

            Arima was a little stricken by this. What was she doing in here? Yukino however was smiling in a most seductive manner while bending one of her knees. 

            _If I don't do this dare, I'll feel so shamed! And Asaba's betting ten dollars against me with Tsubaki! I have to do this._

He wasn't getting any work done and he knew it. He wasn't tired. He was sick of himself trying to pretend that he didn't want to spend time with them. Have fun with them. Arima closed his eyes for a second before answering.

            "Okay." Arima agreed. Yukino looked surprised now. She wasn't expecting for it to be quite so easy.

            "Alright!" Yukino cheered and then proceeded to take his hand that he offered to help her off the desk and lead him out the door of his room. 

            "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Asaba screamed with delight as he saw Arima. "You're just in time! We only just started to play Truth or Dare and we didn't think Yukino could do it!"

            "Pay up!" Tsubaki, seeming to be too eager to wait, began trying to reach into Asaba's pockets which turned into some sort of odd tussle when Asaba fought back.

            "And here we were thinking we had finally come up with an impossible dare." Maho commented in an almost thoughtful way. 

            "Do you want something to drink?" Aya asked as she lit up a new cigarette. There were a few bottles of what looked like liquor right next to her. 

            "Um, some water?" Arima tried nervously. Next to him, Yukino gave a reassuring nudge with one elbow. 

            "We've got some soda." Tsubaki had finished her tussle to run and grab a two liter bottle of coke from off the counter. "Do you want that instead?"

            "Sure." Arima smiled at Tsubaki. 

            "It's Yukino's turn!" Shibahime announced as Tsubaki came back with Arima's glass full of soda. 

            "Um…hmmm…" Yukino looked around the circle from Aya who was flicking her cigarette in a pop can that had become an ash tray, Maho who was giving her a slightly challenging look, Tsubaki who had pretended to slip and was trying to put her hands down Asaba's pants, Rika who was giggling, Asaba who was waving enthusiastically as he obviously wanted a new turn, Shibahime who was too busy having a whispered conversation with Kazuma and vice versa, and finally to Arima who was practically sweating with nervous apprehension. "Arima, truth or dare?" 

            "Hey, wait, are you doing shots?" Tsubaki interrupted to ask Arima. 

            "Shots?" Arima looked scared. "Uh, no." 

            "He can do shots of coke, it'll be fine." Yukino waved a dismissive hand. "I doubt you've ever played drinking Truth or Dare before so here are the rules: If you take the truth and answer it, you have to take one shot but if you take the dare, you have to complete it and do two shots."

            "Which reminds me, Yukino, you won the prize!" Aya handed Yukino two shot glasses full of a clearish liquid. Arima gasped as she slammed the two in what seemed to be record time. 

            "So, what will it be?" Yukino winked at him. 

            "Um…truth." Arima finally chose as Asaba sat there mouthing that he should pick a dare. He did not want to think about what a dare from this group would be. 

            "Okay, Arima, I'll start with something easy." Yukino tapped her chin. "How many times have you had sex?" Arima saw Tsubaki and Asaba both considering the question as if they had been asked themselves, concentrating and counting on all their fingers. He gulped. 

            "I've never…I mean, I haven't…that is to say…" Arima kept hesitating. 

            "Never?!" Asaba and Tsubaki chorused loudly, making Arima's face grow bright. 

            "I was expecting that." Maho sipped at a drink next to her. 

            "He's a virgin?" Asaba's eyes were glittering with what appeared to be excitement. Arima was staring down at his lap in an embarrassment after half-heartedly doing his shot of coke. 

            "Yeah, Asaba, just because you've had sex with three quarters of the school doesn't mean everyone else has too." Yukino defended neatly. "Can I have those Cheetos?" The bag was half thrown at her, but in a manner so that they wouldn't fly all over the room.

            "Um, Tsubaki's had that much sex." Asaba wrapped an arm around Tsubaki's shoulders. "And if not, I would be happy to compensate." 

            "Well, Arima, it's your turn." Rika pointed out with a friendly smile. 

            "Oh really?" Arima looked up at the group. Since Asaba looked the most eager, Arima picked him. "Asaba, truth or dare?"

            "Dare!" Asaba picked with absolutely no hesitation. Arima sat there trying to think of a good dare.

            "Dare him to go and kiss Tonami." Yukino whispered under her breath while pretending to be drinking from her cup. Arima got a slightly weirded out expression before deciding that since he couldn't think of a good dare, he might as well take Yukino's.

            "I dare you to go and kiss Tonami." Arima repeated faithfully. Asaba suddenly looked like he might be sick. 

            "Oh, yuck." Asaba stuck his tongue out. Tsubaki gave Arima a thumbs up and all around there were murmurs of approval from the others. 

            "Well, who should we send as witnesses? Arima should go."  Yukino quickly suggested. "Who else?"

            "I have to see this!" Tsubaki stood up immediately as Arima got up. He was suddenly feeling as though this was a bad idea. Yukino stood up and grabbed a Polaroid camera that had been nearby. 

            "And I'll bring back evidence for the others!" Yukino jumped up and Arima felt himself give a mental sigh of relief that she was coming. That was odd though; it wasn't as if he knew Yukino better than the others or anything. 

            "This is going to rule!" Tsubaki exclaimed as the four left the room. Asaba looking whiny but went along with them anyway. Tsubaki got out a key and carefully opened her dorm room. 

            The room was dark and silent. They all tiptoed over to the door that lead to Kazuma and Tonami's room. They all looked at each other even though they could hardly see the others, and opened the door. A street lamp was positioned right outside the window so they could see much better than they would have in any other room with the lights off. The three of them crouched in the shadows with a rather good view of Asaba as he crossed the room and bent over Tonami's sleeping form. 

            As soon as Asaba pressed his lips against Tonami's, Yukino jumped up and took a picture with her camera. It caused Asaba to jump and Tonami to wake up. Asaba fell quickly to the floor and scrambled over to them.

            "Huh? What's going on? Who's in here?" Tonami asked as he turned on his lamp. The four of them turned, eyes wide with shock at being caught.

            "RUN FOR IT!" Tsubaki yelled and they ran out of there as fast as they could. They didn't stop until they were safely inside the other dorm, breathing heavily as they leaned against the door. 

            "How did it go?" Maho raised an eyebrow at them. Yukino held up a Polaroid in triumph. 

            "Ta da! Asaba gets two shots!" Yukino waved it around before handing it over to the others. Asaba took his shots and Arima laughed openly at the relief on their faces. He hadn't done something that reckless since…since ever! He smiled at the group. Maybe it wasn't so hard to fit in after all.

*                                              *                                              *

            That was it for now. I'm proud; I was stuck on this chapter for awhile. I thought it was never going to get finished! Yes! I rule! Oh well, read and review homies. 


	4. Red Shirting

I'm updating. See, I got distracted because I was playing Final Fantasy VIII. Yeah. Plus, Teresa wasn't here to poke me and tell me I have an update. She _was_ on a date. I need love and attention. So when she reads this, she'll feel guilty. Yeah. Sure. I still have to edit someone's new chapter. DAMMIT! I just don't feel like editing right now. I need to get back my anger. My anger fuels my need to edit. 

Agent Ookami: You know I need to be angry too! 

Jade: It's all for lack of Dr. Brown…

Agent Ookami: Yeah, that's true. Hey…wait a second! **Pokes Jade**

Jade: Oh fine, I'm writing. You suck. Here you go, straight from me, who is called the Writing Princess of Denton High School.

Agent Ookami: Um, who calls you that?

**Sign pops up reading: Any more gags like that and we're canceling your membership to fanfiction.net.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: You know…the usual. (For this story.) Obviously, if you've made it this far, you're okay.

Not Permitted

Chapter Four

            Arima yawned as he made his way out to the living room with his blanket and pillow. Asaba had a 'guest' over and Arima was forced to sleep out on the couch in the common area. He was surprised to find that somebody was already out there, watching infomercials while munching on popcorn. 

            "Hey Arima!" Yukino scooted over to make room for him. "Come to join me?"

            "Well, actually…Asaba…" Arima gestured towards the door. "Brought someone back to the room."

            "In a surprising turn of events, Maho actually brought somebody back to our room so I'm out here." Yukino smiled. "Wanna give 'em a run for their money?" Arima's face turned a brilliant shade of red. He tried to keep his eyes on the TV screen. 

            "Er…" Arima tried to think of something clever or funny to say. 

            "I was just kidding." Yukino punched him in the shoulder. "You're just too easy." 

            "I knew you were joking." Arima lied and reached into the popcorn bowl. 

            "Hey! Get your own!" Yukino shielded the popcorn bowl with her body; she giggled and offered it to Arima. "You could at least try to stand up to me. Have you always been like this?"

            "Well…I dunno…" Arima put a piece in his mouth. "What do you mean?" 

            "You know, sort of a pushover." Yukino put it bluntly. 

            "I'm not a pushover!" Arima protested immediately. "I just…well, do you really want to know?" 

            "Yes!" Yukino leaned forward excitedly, obviously ready for whatever his story was. Arima mumbled something quietly, blushing a little. Yukino frowned. "What?" 

            "I don't really know how to talk to girls." Arima said just a shade more audibly; luckily Yukino heard it this time. 

            "Is that all?" Yukino asked, looking a little cheated. "You don't know how to talk to girls? You talk to us all the time!" 

            "I know that, it's easier when you're all in a group." Arima shrugged. "But I don't know…I'm being stupid, aren't I?"

            "Not really." Yukino blinked. "I mean, some people just have trouble with it. But you know what they say, 'Practice makes perfect.' Pretty soon, you won't even notice." 

            "You think so?" Arima raised his eyebrows. 

            "You don't have to be nervous around us at all. I mean, you could always practice with Asaba, he's the closest thing you can get without getting a female." Yukino joked. "How's grades?"

            "They're fine." Arima shrugged. "I didn't think you guys really paid attention to grades."

            "Of course we do! You get kicked out if you fail anything!" Yukino explained in an exasperated tone. "Usually though, we just wait till the end of the semester and get C's. Last year I barely passed but this year, I've got A's in almost all my classes." 

            "Sorry." Arima apologized. "I just…well…this group doesn't really seem like the types who would pay a lot of attention to school."

            "We actually do pay a lot of attention to it. I'm on the track team; Maho does extracurricular stuff in the library with Aya, who is the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper this year, Tsubaki's on the girl's soccer team and the girl's baseball team, Shibahime plays the flute in the school orchestra, and Asaba goes to almost every sporting event. Not that I'm entirely sure that constitutes as an extracurricular activity." Yukino ticked off all the items on her fingers. 

            "You're on the track team?" Arima asked in surprise.

            "Yep." Yukino nodded proudly. Their talk was interrupted as someone knocked on the door. "Come in." 

            "Hey, hey, what am I interrupting?" Tsubaki asked as she walked into the room. 

            "The best hand job ever." Yukino popped another piece of popcorn in her mouth. Arima felt the blood rush to his face as Tsubaki raised her eyebrows at him. "Geez, Tsubaki, this is _Arima _we're talking about." Arima didn't know if that was supposed to make him feel better or not.

            "Oh yeah." Tsubaki grinned. "Hey, is Asaba in?" 

            "He's in with someone." Yukino supplied. 

            "Awww…" Tsubaki snapped her fingers. "Tonami was being really annoying and I wanted to be distracted so I didn't just kick his ass out a window. So, what about you Yukino?"

            "I'm keeping Arima company." Yukino patted Arima's leg. He jumped slightly at the contact.

            "He sure is jumpy." Tsubaki sighed. "Well, thanks anyways, I guess I'll go down to Aya and Rika's room." 

            "Bye!" Yukino told her. "Now, what were we talking about?" She asked as she turned to Arima. 

            "The track team." Arima supplied and listened to Yukino talk about it. He was a little surprised to see that she could be so interested in that one thing. But then, it seemed as the group was _still full of surprises._

*                                              *                                              *

            "What's wrong Asaba?" Yukino walked in with her schoolbag. Asaba was moping on the couch by himself. He turned to her with one of the sadist faces she had ever seen on him. 

            "You'll see." He sighed loudly. 

            "Wha…" Yukino trailed off as Tsubaki walked by wearing a red t-shirt. "Oh." 

            "Yeah." He nodded. "Me and Tsubaki had something really fun planned too." 

            "Hi guys." Arima walked into the room with his schoolbag over his left shoulder and a water bottle in his right hand. "What's going on?" 

            "Tsubaki is red-shirting." Yukino pointed to the short haired female who had come back from the kitchen. Tsubaki rolled her eyes at Yukino. 

            "Uh, 'red-shirting'?" Arima asked in polite interest. 

            "It's a ridiculous term that they made up because Tsubaki always wears a red shirt on the first day of her period." Maho explained coldly. 

            "Looks like someone else should be wearing a red shirt." Asaba poked Maho's leg over the back of the couch. Maho raised a dangerous eyebrow before walking towards the small kitchen area. 

            "Are you okay Arima?" Yukino asked in concern because Arima seemed to be choking on the water he had been drinking from his water bottle when Maho explained.

            "I'm…fine." Arima coughed a few final times. 

            "Some people are so immature about it." Maho commented from the kitchen. Arima was about to protest when Asaba stopped him.

            "Dude, just ignore her. In fact, stay out of her way for the whole week." Asaba advised him. Tsubaki punched him in the arm. "Ow! We can still make out, Tsubaki." This was probably supposed to make her happy but instead Tsubaki just sighed loudly. 

            "It's Friday!" Shibahime bounced into the room. It only took her a few seconds to spot Tsubaki's red shirt. "Oh." 

            "I'm going to my room. I don't want to be bothered." Maho informed them all as she walked back into her room. 

            "We'll miss you Maho!" Yukino called out.

            "Tsubaki, are you going to be okay?" Asaba asked tentatively. 

            "Yeah…I'm just feeling sort of bummed out." Tsubaki shrugged. "I need some coffee." 

            "Oh! I bought some of those frappeccino things." Asaba jumped up and ran to the refrigerator. "It's mocha…" 

            "Mocha?" Tsubaki was on her feet faster then the others could blink.

            "Where's Kazuma?" Yukino asked. 

            "He's coming." Shibahime told them brightly. As if on cue, Kazuma came in and messed up Shibahime's hair. "HEY!" 

            "Ha, you didn't see that coming." Kazuma poked her in the side. A cushion hit him in the face.

            "Didn't see that coming!" Shibahime cheered. 

            "Who wants to hear a story?" Asaba called out as he and Tsubaki started messing around the kitchen area. 

            "Story?" Rika and Aya popped in. 

            "Yeah, this one's great. It's the one I was telling you earlier Tsubaki." Asaba told the short-haired girl who looked a lot happier, guzzling the frappeccino. 

            "This is funny." Tsubaki chuckled. "Go on Asaba." 

            "So, do you guys know that girl on the gymnastics team? The one with the braid?" Asaba asked. Several nods from everyone except for Arima. "You know her roommate?" 

            "Oh yeah." Yukino and Tsubaki said together in an identical knowing tone. 

            "Well, I had sex with her right?" Asaba went on. "And the next day, she's following me to almost all my classes. I thought that was sort of weird at first but then I get out of my last class and she corners me and asks if I'm going out with Tsubaki, like I'm doing something wrong. And I tell her I'm not. So then, you know what she said?" 

            "What?" Aya lit up a cigarette. 

            "'We need to talk about our relationship.'" Asaba said in a high-pitched imitation of a girl. Everyone starting laughing except Arima, who tried to look as though he found the story as amusing as the others did. 

            "That _is great." Yukino told him. _

            "Maybe she thought you really liked her." Arima frowned a little. 

            "I try to make it as clear as possible that I'm not of the relationship kind." Asaba defended himself, and then he winked at Arima. "Although, whatever floats your boat." 

            "But don't you feel bad for her?" Arima asked. 

            "You have to see Arima, that with us, it's not really a relationship, we're all friends, period." Tsubaki glanced down at her shirt for a second. "And Asaba is too immature for commitment." 

            "What?" Asaba squawked. "Am not! I just prefer to do it my way." 

            "Uh huh." Tsubaki agreed patting him on the back. "I'm just messing with you." 

            "I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you." Asaba told Arima. "Did you bring the alcohol, Aya?" 

            "Yeah." Aya opened a large paper bag that she had brought with her. "Rum." She threw the bottle at Tsubaki who caught it perfectly. "Vodka." Asaba caught it this time. "And bourbon." Tsubaki caught it. 

            The group was fixing drinks and Arima got a few teasing remarks as he refused any alcohol and opted for some soda. They sat in a circle with their drinks.

            "What do you guys wanna play?" Tsubaki sipped on her rum and coke happily. 

            "How about…" Yukino rubbed her chin. 

            "'I Never.'" Shibahime suggested and everyone nodded. Arima had played this game at a birthday party when he was thirteen but everyone had been drinking soda at that. 

            "Okay, I'll start…" Tsubaki thought really hard. "I've never…not had my period!" The three guys all took a drink. 

             "My turn!" Asaba looked happy. "I've never had sex with Arima!" Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at him. 

            "That was stupid Asaba; _no one's _had sex with him." Yukino informed the honey-haired boy. 

            "I was just checking." Asaba winked once more at Arima. He sighed a little. 

            "I've never had sex with half the girl's baseball team." Yukino stated proudly. Asaba and Tsubaki bother grumbled before taking a drink. 

            "That was just dirty." Tsubaki told the orange-haired girl. 

            "Um…" Arima looked about quickly, trying to think of a good one. "I've never had sex with Asaba." He was about to say that he had never had sex before but didn't feel like bringing up the subject _again_. He was surprised when the entire group took a drink except for himself, Asaba, and Kazuma. 

            "Hey, does masturbation count?" Asaba asked. 

            "Yeah, take a drink." Tsubaki motioned towards his glass. 

            "I've never done it in the boys' bathroom." Aya told them confidently. Tsubaki, Yukino, Shibahime, and Asaba took a drink. 

            "Good one!" Shibahime and Tsubaki cheered. The rest of the night went on like this, just general laughter and loud yells that got to the point where Tonami knocked on the door to tell them that they were too loud. 

*                                              *                                              *

            Sorry not a lot happened in this chapter. I swear more stuff be happening in the next chapter, kays? ^_^ Thanks to everyone that actually reviews. I love all of you. 


	5. He's Got Issues

Ah, sorry I haven't updated in a while guys. But then, barely anyone reads this story anyway, so it's not like I get any complaints about it. Not like If Wishes where if I don't update for a couple of days everyone starts talking about how I'm taking too long with the chapter. Heehee, oh well, gives me more time to write when I feel like it. So, chapter, chapter, chapter…

This chapter is dedicated to me, because I, Jade, have made her onee-chan cry with her touchingly written story. (Not this one, a different one.) That's the only reason this chapter is being written, I've been inspired by reactions to my own genius. 

Agent Ookami: Um, here let me deflate your ego a little: It was a little...er, spontaneous wasn't it? I mean, it's just kind of all of the sudden…

Jade: SHHHHH! I want to remember this moment forever. Teresa, the amazing, crying onee-chan.

Agent Ookami: How do you always manage to throw a gag into every one of these?

Jade: I'm good like that. Viva la Ron!

Agent Ookami: Nice accent.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: The usual. 

Not Permitted

Chapter Five    

            "That assignment will be due at the end of the week." The teacher told them all sternly. Arima glanced over at Yukino who winked at him. "I know a few of you are lagging behind on homework, you need to make sure and catch up with the rest of us." 

            The bell rang and the students began to file out of the classroom. Arima was leaving with Yukino when the teacher stopped him.

            "Mr. Souchirou, can I have a word with you?" The teacher asked him.

            "I'll be in the hall." Yukino told him before leaving him alone with the teacher.

            "Um, yeah?" Arima raised his eyebrows in question.

            "I see you didn't turn in the essay last week." The teacher flipped open her grade book. "You also didn't turn in the packet that was due on our poetry unit."

            "I was finished with it, but it was late and you don't accept late work..." Arima trailed off. 

            "I don't believe in late work because I give you lots of time before due dates. Is there anything wrong? A bright boy like you with such great recommendations from your last school…I can't see why there's a slide in the work like this." The teacher frowned at him. "Is something troubling you?"

            "No, no, I'm really sorry, I'll try harder this week." Arima promised her. Guilt rose up in him. That's right, he hadn't been getting all his work done. But then, he had been spending so much more time with the others that it didn't seem like there was enough time in the day to do _everything_. 

            "Okay then. You know, I see you talk to Miss Miyazawa a lot. You could take a leaf out of her book, her essay last week was very good." The teacher informed him. "That'll be all, you can go." 

            Arima ducked out of the classroom, a slightly bewildered expression on his face. 

            _Take a leaf out of Yukino's book?_

_            Her essay was very good?_

_            When did Yukino have time to do her essay? _

"What did the teacher want to talk to you about?" Yukino hit him on the back, making all the thoughts fly out of his head. "Wanted to give you an award for being the model student?"

            "Er, no." Arima tried to laugh but he felt uneasy. They all thought he was doing really well still. Was it lying when you didn't deny it? "She just wanted to talk to me about that essay last week."

            "That was such a breeze." Yukino stretched her arms over her head and cracked her knuckles. "Did yours go okay?"

            "Actually..." Arima trailed off. What was he going to say? Suddenly he felt like it was very important that Yukino didn't know he wasn't as successful as she thought he was. Because if she knew the truth, somehow he would become less in her eyes. 

            "Um, excuse me." A girl stopped Yukino in the hall. 

            "Yeah?" Yukino gave her a small smile. 

            "Can you tell Asaba to call me?" The girl asked pleadingly. "My name's Kaori, he'll remember me from Sunday night."

            "Er, sure." Yukino gave a sideways look to Arima who almost started to laugh. He knew that even if Yukino did tell him, Asaba wasn't going to call. "Well, we've got to go, bye." Yukino practically dragged Arima away, walking unnecessarily fast. 

            "Why are we walking so fast?" Arima questioned her.

            "I just don't like dealing with some of the Asaba fan-club members." Yukino slowed her pace down, still holding onto Arima's arm. He was feeling strangely light-headed as he noticed this. "I think it's funny when they ask me or Tsubaki to carry messages for them. But sometimes they can be sort of annoying."

            "Well maybe if he didn't..." Arima stopped talking as soon as he realized what he was about to say. 

            "Maybe if he wasn't such a man-whore, we wouldn't have this problem?" Yukino supplied. "I'd tell him, but Tsubaki and him are probably neck and neck on who's slept with the most people. And I'm no saint."

            "I-I'm not judging you guys." Arima quickly defended himself. "I was just going to say that maybe if he, er, _moderated_ his activities..." 

            "Haha, you sound just like a teacher." Yukino giggled into her hand. "It's just a little annoying, but it's not really that big of a deal. As long as it doesn't get out of hand like last year with the weird stalker guy..."

            "Weird stalker guy?" Arima looked at her strangely. 

            "You haven't heard this story?" Yukino asked as though he had been cheated out of the greatest part of life. "Okay, so, Asaba had this roommate who was 'straight' until two weeks after the first day of school, when him and Asaba slept together. So, his best friend has this thing for Asaba and, okay, I'm not clear on this completely, but apparently they had some sort of threesome thing.

            "Then, the best friend kept sleeping with Asaba and then acting really possessive of him. Well, Asaba told him to stop and then the best friend guy got really mad because he found out Asaba was sleeping with almost all of us. (Obviously, the exception being Maho.) He just started following him _everywhere_.

            "Asaba kept trying to get rid of him nicely but it didn't work. So he goes to Tsubaki about it. She takes the guy by his collar in front of a bunch of people and tells him that if he doesn't knock it off, she'll kick his ass. He backed off about it after that. I heard he transferred or something." Yukino finished the story as they arrived at their rooms.

            "Oooooh, look at you two!" Asaba danced around the couch as they came in. "You look just like a couple!" He teased the two.     

            "A couple, what fun is that?" Yukino let go of his arm and Arima felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

            "Exactly. Monogamy is so lame." Tsubaki sighed from where she was sitting on the couch. "If Tonami asks where I am, tell him that I'm studying three dorms away. When he comes back, say the exact same thing and point in the opposite direction."

            "Got it." Yukino plopped down next to her, kissing her on the cheek. "So, what'cha guys doing?"

            "Other then watching Asaba prance around the room, not much." Tsubaki shrugged before there was a knock at the door.

            "Hey you guys? Do you know where Tsubaki is?" Tonami's voice came through the door.

            "And trying to avoid him." Tsubaki sighed. "What is _with_ that guy? I mean, I show no interest, I blatantly ignore him, we're always mean to him, why does he keep trying?"

            "'Cause you're so cute." Asaba plopped down in her lap. "Let's go screw." 

            "Hmm, that would take my mind off matters." Tsubaki pretended to contemplate it. "I suppose." The two got up and ran into Asaba's room. 

            "My room's free." Yukino spoke almost absently as she turned on the TV. Arima's eyes bugged out. He wished he didn't always do that when Yukino made those sorts of comments but he really couldn't help it. Or when any of the others did, it was hard to think of them actually _wanting_ to have sex with him. Maybe they just did because he was a part of the group and that's how the group accepted people. Still, it wasn't something that was easy to get used to. 

            He tried to laugh as he sat down next to her. She crossed her legs, which made her skirt show just a little more of her thigh. Arima was staring at the edge of the skirt thinking about how if it went down a little further...

            "Did you get what-" Yukino turned toward him suddenly and he snapped his head forward, blushing profusely. She stopped when she realized what had just happened. In her head, Yukino was giggling mischievously. Her hands slyly went to her blouse and she undid a few buttons. "Arima?" She said his name in a perfectly innocent way.

            "Yeah?" Arima turned toward her and his eyes went from her face to her cleavage and then quickly back to her face, his face becoming a brilliant shade of red. 

            "Can you hand me that magazine?" Yukino batted her eyelashes. 

            "Um, sure." Arima gulped and tried to think of things other then Yukino's nice cleavage. He went to grab the magazine.

            "No, not that one." Yukino shook her head. "That one right there." She didn't point to help him out. He moved his arm and looked at her questioningly.

            "This one?" He hazarded as he started to reach for another one. 

            "No, oh I'll get it." Yukino started to reach over, but the magazine was too far so she put one hand on Arima's leg and reached forward to grab the first magazine he had reached for. She pretended to slip before catching herself on his leg, a little bit further up then her hand had previously been. 

            Yukino sat up where she had previously been sitting and opened the magazine calmly. Arima stood up quickly. 

            "Er, I have to...go." Arima started to run toward the door to his and Asaba's room.

            "Tsubaki and Asaba are in there." Yukino reminded him. 

            "Oh." Arima croaked. He ran for the bathroom instead. Yukino was giggling to herself up until Maho came in.

            "What's so funny?" Maho asked as she sat down next to the orange-haired girl.

            "Ah, nothing." Yukino smothered her giggles. "Let's just say Arima's working out some issues with his hand in the bathroom.

            "He better clean up those issues when he's done." Maho folded her arms.

            *                                              *                                              *

            They had all been acting really weird the next week. Arima couldn't put his finger on it, but the whole group was being a little strange and secretive. They'd be talking about something and as soon as he entered the room, they'd stop talking.

            _Maybe...maybe they don't like hanging out with me anymore..._

_            Maybe they're discussing the best way to leave me out of things._

Arima couldn't help but take a pessimistic stand on the issue. He looked over at the seat next to his where Yukino was chewing on her pen and trying to think of what to write next on her assignment. He watched her mouth as her lips moved in what could be described as a pout. Arima shook himself, he had obviously been hanging around the others a little too long.

            _It'll probably turn out for the best if they decide they don't like me anymore. _

_            Although, I think I'll miss them. _

He glanced over at Yukino once more.

            _No, I would _definitely _miss them. _

The bell rang and him and Yukino left class together, her talking about her day while waving at people who greeted her along the way. Arima was distracted by her conversation and forgot about it until they got to their dorm.

            "Oh, Arima, um, Asaba wanted to do this thing and you don't want to be there for it, so maybe you can wait in Tsubaki's room until it's over?" Yukino gave him an indulgent look. Arima frowned at this but tried to pretend that he didn't care.

            "Sure." Arima shrugged before knocking on Tsubaki's door.

            "Tsubaki?" Tonami answered. "Oh. What are you doing here?"

            "I'm supposed to wait here until something's over with." Arima tried to explain. "Can I wait here?" 

            "Okay." Tonami let him in. "They've all been over there doing...something. Tsubaki won't tell me what it is but they all seem really excited about it."

            _They didn't want Tonami or me to know about it. _

_            Usually they just don't want Tonami to know._

Tsubaki popped her head in the door. "Arima? Can you come here for a second?" 

            "Yeah." Arima got up and followed her. 

            "We need your help with something." Tsubaki told him before gesturing toward the his door. "After you." 

            Arima walked inside the door to his dorm room, not sure what to expect but feeling a little disillusioned about life right then.

            "SUPRISE!" 

            Arima jumped up in the air in shock. What was going on? 

            "Happy birthday Arima!" Asaba was wearing one of those present bows on his head. 

            _Happy...birthday? _

_            It's my birthday today! I completely forgot!_

This was due to the fact that no one had really cared that it was his birthday before, other than his parents who called on his birthday and sent him presents. 

            "Wow...I thought...wow..." Arima was still trying to get over it. "You guys...how did you know my birthday?" 

            "We looked it up on the school registry." Maho had tinsel in her hair but was still managing to look as neat and proper as always. 

            "Yeah, _technically we aren't sposed'ta but Asaba knew the office aide." Shibahime explained. "He knows __all the office aides." _

            "Yep, we're throwing you a party and..." Asaba handed him a glass of what looked like plain coca-cola. "It's non-alcoholic! None of us are drinking tonight because we know you don't like alcohol that much." 

            "That's cool." Arima took a sip of his coke. He looked around and noticed something decidedly amiss. "Where's Yukino?"

            At this, everyone started laughing but tried desperately to cover it up. Even Maho was smiling. 

            "What?" Arima looked around at them. 

            "I think he should sit down for this." Tsubaki lead him over to the couch, which was covered in confetti. There were balloons everywhere and it looked as though there had been a confetti war in his absence. 

            "Oh Yukino, you can come out now!" Rika and Aya sang together. The bathroom door opened. Arima's jaw dropped.

            _N-no way..._

Yukino was wearing a very small red dress with black fishnets, which were being held up by exposed garters. Her hair was up in a messy bun but not for long because someone turned on music and she quickly took her hair down, messing it up with her hands. 

            "Um..." Arima looked around, but no one was paying attention to him. Yukino began to dance around the room to the beat of the music. At first he didn't really understand this until she began to strip. He was sure that he was going to die right then. 

            "Wooo!" Tsubaki cheered her on. 

            "Omigod." Arima wasn't sure if it would be impolite to cover his eyes. He wasn't sure he could take much more of this. 

            "I think Arima's going to explode." Shibahime pointed out to Asaba. 

            "He seems to be enjoying himself." Asaba commented with approval. "Although I still say-"

            "You know what Asaba, we've been through this a thousand times. Yukino's the stripper, not you." Tsubaki poked his forehead with her index finger. 

            "I would have been a good stripper." Asaba pouted. 

            "I know you would have." Tsubaki patted his head. "You were very good on my last birthday." 

            The song ended and Yukino received a round of applause, Arima was still staring with his jaw slightly open and his eyes as wide as they could go.

            "He's in shock." Maho stated, waving a hand in front of his face. Yukino went to go get dressed in some regular clothes. 

            "Woah, it's a good thing Asaba _didn't strip, I don't think Arima could have handled Asaba's dance moves." Tsubaki laughed before hitting Arima really hard on the back of the head. _

            "Wha-?" Arima started. 

            "Yeah, no more strippers for Arima." Asaba decided. "Let's open presents!" 

            "Do I want to open presents?" Arima looked at them suspiciously. 

            "What do you mean? Don't you like presents?" Yukino came back out in jeans and small t-shirt. Arima felt like his face was on fire. 

            "Er...yeah I do." Arima finally got out. 

            "We knew you'd like a stripper!" Asaba started to get presents and put them on the coffee table in front of him. "Even though I wanted to be the stripper, but Tsubaki was like "No, let Yukino do it." Whatever." 

            "Get over it." Tsubaki threw a cushion at his face. "The stripping is over and done with." 

            "Which one should I open first?" Arima asked the group.

            "Mine!" They all yelled at once. He took the nearest one and proceeded to unwrap it. 

            It was candy. Arima sighed in relief. Somehow he was sure this group wasn't above giving each other very _mature_ gifts. All the other presents were normal; DVDs and books and other things one would normally get. 

            The rest of the night was fun, filled with games and movies, sometimes both at once. (Asaba and Tsubaki were quite impressive with their plethora of anime drinking games, even though they only had soda to do it with.) But there was something bothering Arima.

            He couldn't figure it out though. He kept finding himself watching Yukino instead of movies, or instead of paying attention. At first he kept telling himself that it was the shock of seeing her strip in front of him. But then, it didn't seem like it was.

            But then, he had been watching her a lot more as the weeks had gone by. Yukino and him were fast friends and he found himself drawn more to her than any of the others. But why was that? 

            When he finally climbed into bed at four in the morning, glad that the next day was a Saturday so he didn't have any classes, he remembered vaguely that his parents hadn't called. They would probably call tomorrow. He hoped they didn't call very early. His thoughts wandered back to Yukino.

            _Why do I keep thinking about her? _

_            What is it about her..._

He remembered earlier in the evening when they were playing Spin the Bottle. 

            _"It's gonna land on me!" Asaba declared as Arima spun the bottle in the middle of the group. It slowed down to a stop. _

_            Pointing at Yukino. She laughed and put down her cup of soda, crawling across the circle till she was inches from his face. He leaned forward and his lips touched hers, Yukino deepened the kiss. He found himself lost in that moment. He wanted to stay right there for as long as he could. _

_            "Hey you two, get a room." Tsubaki's words separated them as Yukino pulled away. _

_            "He has a room, and it's with me." Asaba winked at him. _

He touched his lips with his fingers; he could still feel that kiss. What was this feeling? 

            And then it dawned on him, just as he was about to slip into a deep slumber. The realization felt like there was a fist clenching down on his heart.

            He was in love with her. 

            _You, idiot!_

_            She...she'll never feel like that about you. The group...that's not how they are._

_            Great, just great, out of all the girls in the world, you fell for the one who doesn't believe in relationships. _

With that, Arima fell asleep, hoping that he could solve his problems when he woke up again.

            *                                              *                                              *

            I feel like such a sadist to Arima. Sorry Arima! The torture DOES have a point, I swear. Heehee, I liked this chapter. But what will happen next time? You'll just have to see!


	6. DOWN Asaba!

I stand corrected! You guys really stood up for yourselves, thanks for the reviews! You guys really helped me get back into the groove of things, unfortunately, circumstances were against me updating. Never fear! I have updated for I am the...RED MAGE! (Just kidding.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: The usual. Angst. Teresa, it's your favorite part. Ehehehehehehehee. Omigod, it's the first time I've ever written...oh boy. I guess that HYD story though...eeek.

Not Permitted

Chapter Six

         "Come on, come on!" Asaba ran excitedly up to the cheering stands. The bleachers that were located around the track were pretty crowded, but Asaba seemed to have found empty space right next to where the school's track team was warming up.

         "Yukino rules!" Tsubaki began cheering. Yukino looked up and waved at them.

         "Is Yukino going to run soon?" Shibahime asked almost in a whine. "I hate watching the track team. I mean other than Yukino." 

         "Yeah, yeah." Kazuma poked her in the side. "Ya' gonna fall asleep again?"          

         "No!" Shibahime glomped him. "It's your job to keep me awake."

         "Psssst, Asaba." Tsubaki hissed into Asaba's ear. "Um, doesn't it seem like Kazuma and Shibahime are together?" 

         "Like together together?" Asaba asked, looking somewhat horrified. Then he waved it away. "Psh, no. Come on, Shibahime wouldn't go all monogamy on us." 

         "Well I _know they've been sleeping together and Shibahime hasn't been sleeping with anyone else." Tsubaki pointed out. "Doesn't it seem a little weird?" _

         "I guess." Asaba shrugged. 

         "Yukino's running!" Aya exclaimed, sitting on the edge of her seat. Arima's eyes were glued to the orange-haired girl as she went up to the line. She turned, looked straight at him, and winked. He suddenly felt as though he were floating. 

         And then she took off. Running along, arms pumping swiftly as she tried to take a lead. And she did, she was ahead now. The whole group was standing up and cheering, even Arima was yelling encouragements before Yukino passed the finish line and the bleachers went wild with applause. 

         Yukino ran over to her team and got a bottle of water and a few pats on the back before wandering up to where they were.

         "Hey, Arima, how was I?" She asked him.

         "You were great." Arima told her enthusiastically, pleased that she had talked to him first. The others began piling on compliments and he was forgotten for the moment, but it didn't matter as he watched her smile and laugh. 

         Maybe there was hope for the two of them.

         *                                   *                                   * 

         "Good morning Mr. Souchirou." He was greeted as he sat down across from three very stern looking adults. "How are you?"

         "I'm fine, sir." Arima was a little nervous. Why had he been called down here? It was the middle of classes after all. Was something wrong? Were his parents okay? 

         "It's been brought to our attention that you've been having problems with your grades." The main speaker looked down at his papers before turning back to Arima. "Why is that?"

         "I...I've just been having some trouble." Arima didn't know what to say. This had never been a problem before. Ever. 

         "Your last school said you were the most brilliant student they had last year. And the year before that as well." The main one leaned back in his chair a little. "Who are your roommates?"

         "Hideaki Asaba, Miyazawa Yukino, and Izawa Maho." Arima answered. What did his roommates have to do with anything? 

         "Oh, that group." A woman to the left of the guy in the center shook her head almost in dismay. "Mr. Souchirou, it should be brought to your attention that that particular group thinks school is a joke, and they usually just skate by."

         "Which is fine, you can try doing that." The man put in. "But you obviously don't have experience with it like that group does. You need to bring your grades up or you will be kicked out of school." 

         "Kicked out?" Arima couldn't believe it. 

         _How could I get kicked out? _

_         Then what would I do? I mean, I could just go to school somewhere else but..._

_         They wouldn't be there. Yukino wouldn't be there. _ 

         "Yes, but if you can pull your grades up then you won't be kicked out. My advice to you is to transfer out of your current room into somewhere you can work." The man told him. "This is your official warning Mr. Souchirou. You may go." 

         Arima left the room, his head bent low. When had things gotten so out of hand? But then, all he did was hang out with the group, and that didn't leave room for homework sometimes. How did the others get it done? How did the others _do_ it? 

         _"Remember your grades Arima."_

What would his parents say? And he was overcome with guilt and shame. His parents paid lots of money for him to go to this school and grades were supposed to be the most important. Not friends or having fun. When did it get like this?

         He went back to the room now that he didn't feel well. He felt as though he was going to throw up. Kicked out of school. It just wasn't possible. Arima hit the door with his hand before opening it. 

         Yukino was sitting there, her glasses on, and she was working. She was doing her homework. She turned around and saw him, blinking several times.

         "Arima, are you okay?" Yukino asked. She could tell something was wrong. How could he tell her? He plopped down on the couch next to her.

         "I'm failing, they're going to kick me out of school unless I bring up my grades." Arima closed his eyes; he was in a definite state of upset. "I've always had good grades, I just...I can't believe this is really happening to me."

         "Asaba never has any better than a D in all his classes." Yukino tried to comfort him. "But we help each other out, we pull through. And don't think we aren't going to help you."

         "What if I can't? What if I get kicked out?" Arima asked her wildly. 

         "Those administrators just like scaring people." Yukino rolled her eyes. Then she put her hands on his. "Don't worry about it." He looked up into her bright eyes, which were full of concern and sympathy. 

         "Yukino..." Arima licked his lips as he saw how close her face was. Yukino seemed to sense what he wanted because she kissed him, very gently. Arima kissed her back, much more forcefully than he had initially intended. 

         Her tongue entered his mouth and he went with it. He was making out with Yukino. On the couch. The thought wasn't really sinking in as they fell over onto the couch, Yukino underneath him. 

          Their hands began to move over each other and Arima didn't know if he had ever felt anything like this before. It was bliss. It was bliss just kissing her like this. It was almost like...

         And then he stopped. 

         They weren't together. It was possible that Yukino wasn't thinking along those same lines at all. In fact, she could just be making out with him the same way she did with all the others. He pulled away from her. 

         Yukino sat up, obviously confused. 

         "We need to talk." Arima declared. 

         "What?" Yukino looked around dazedly as if she had missed something crucial. 

         "If..." Arima tried to clear his throat and get rid of the lump that had settled there. "If we're going to be together then...I mean...I want us to be together exclusively."

         "What?" Yukino now seemed to not believe what she was hearing. "What are you talking about?"

         "I...I can't do things the way you guys do." Arima shook his head. "So, if we're going to be together, then it has to be monogamous." Yukino shook her head, tried to say something, failed, and then finally gathered herself together, giving him a rather hesitant smile. 

         "I'm way too young to waste my time with that sort of thing." Yukino told him outright and Arima could feel something inside him tearing in two. "I mean, its just friend sex, it doesn't mean anything." 

         "But..." Arima tried to protest. 

         "I think you got the wrong idea." Yukino stood up. "I didn't realize you were going to get all mushy on me." Her face twisted slightly, and then she left the room, slamming the door that lead to Yukino and Maho's room. 

         Arima went into his own room, sitting down on the bed before he felt tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to dry them as quickly as possible, but they just kept coming. 

         _Great, now you're going to cry too? Oh boohoo, my grades suck and boohoo, Yukino doesn't like me. _

_         It's your own fault._

_         You should have been paying attention to grades, not girls._

Somehow, none of this was making him feel better as he put his face on his hands, peering through them at the carpet as he continued to cry. It hurt so bad. He had never felt anything like it before. Why did it have to hurt like this? 

         Of course he didn't hear anyone enter the room. He didn't even hear them close the door. He only realized he wasn't alone when there was a hand on his shoulder. 

         "Hey, Arima, are you crying?" Asaba asked him with concern. But Arima didn't want to tell him why. He couldn't even answer. "What happened?"

         What happened? What happened? Arima could have started laughing. What happened was that he was dumb enough to think that maybe, Yukino felt the same way he did. And now he was paying the price. 

         "It'll be okay." Asaba told him while moving to sit on the bed. At first Arima didn't understand what he was doing until he felt two hands rubbing his back. And suddenly he realized how tensed up he had been. 

         Asaba began to speak again as he worked on Arima's back. "Come on, tell me what's wrong." 

         "Well...it's a lot of things." Arima was starting to calm down. "They called me into the office and had an official meeting about my grades."

         "They have about two of those a year for me." Arima could practically see Asaba rolling his eyes. "But then I pass with C's and they can't touch me." 

         "It doesn't bother you though?" Arima questioned. 

         "Um, a little, I guess." Asaba shrugged. "But I usually get called in with Tsubaki, so I haven't heard what the hell they've been saying." 

         "Well, I guess I don't have your good luck." Arima sighed heavily. "Other stuff too...I'm not sure I can tell you though, you'd probably laugh at me." Or blow him off the way Yukino had. 

         "Go on." Asaba urged him. 

         "Before...well, I was crying because of...Yukino." Arima admitted. He waited and for just a moment, Asaba stopped completely before going on with his hands to work out some particularly bad knots. 

         "What happened?" Asaba questioned. "I came in here and she was stomping out of the room, saying something about practice." 

         "We were..." Arima felt a slight heat go to his face. "Were kissing on the couch."

         "Oh." Asaba sounded interested but slightly distracted by what he was doing.

         "I didn't want to just, well…I know you guys are okay with doing stuff with people and it not meaning anything, but I just...with Yukino, it's different." Arima's shoulders dropped. "I really like her, but if I'm going to be with her, I want it to be exclusive."

         "Um...Arima, you didn't tell her this, did you?" Asaba asked him slowly and hesitantly. 

         "Of course I did." Arima tried to turn but found it was rather hard so he stayed where he was sitting. "Was that wrong?" 

         "It…it really depends on how you look at it." Asaba finally answered. 

         "She's going to hate me forever, isn't she?" Arima felt his throat go dry and a lump rise up. Asaba patted his back, obviously sensing the upset in Arima. He moved and hugged Arima, who was happy to have someone there to comfort him. 

         Arima looked up to tell him so and was surprised by Asaba kissing him. He was so utterly confused by this action that he didn't stop him at all. In fact, it didn't feel as weird as it should have. Asaba took his lack of action as permission and began to get even closer, the kissing growing more intense. Asaba went to kiss Arima's throat and Arima finally gathered himself together enough to say something.

"Wait!" Arima stopped him. Asaba blinked a couple of times in surprise. 

         "Do you want me to stop?" Asaba questioned, his voice as serious as Arima had ever heard it. 

         "Well...er..." Arima shook his head. What the hell? Did he want him to stop? 

         "Don't worry, we're just friends. I just wanted you to feel better." Asaba told him while starting to move back in, straddling Arima's waist rather suggestively. 

         "But...but I'm not gay." Arima shook his head. 

         "Sure." Asaba smiled secretively and wiggled slightly. Arima's cheeks went red as he felt an odd sensation between his legs. He knew what _that_ was. "Besides, it's not about being gay or straight, it's about feeling good." 

_         "I'm way too young to waste my time with that sort of thing." _

_         "I didn't realize you were going to get all mushy on me."_

         _I'm sorry Yukino...I'm sorry I got like that. Did I overreact to the situation? _

_         She does this sort of thing all the time. _

_         Does it matter? Does it really matter now?_

"Don't stop."

         *                                   *                                   *

Dun dun DUN!!! Omigod, Asaba you were sooo great in this scene! ^_^. I love my Asaba-sama. Okay, so please review you guys! I bet you guys can't wait to see what happens next. Which way will this story turn? What weird turn of events do we have in store for the cast? Why don't you look at our fine selection of ANGST??? (Okay, spaaaaazzz.) D'accord, allons-y!


	7. Angst Anyone?

o.O! Some of you really liked that last chapter. Well don't worry, there's a lot more storyline to come. (Jade's a dork). Marmalade!!! I loved your review! ^_^. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano. 

Warnings: Angst. LOTS of angst. LOTS and LOTS of angst and...a certain madness that'll smote us all one day. I know it got me.

Not Permitted

Chapter Seven

         "LOOK! LOOK!" Asaba was jumping up and down in the middle of the room after having just opened a package from his parents. It was for his birthday, which was fast approaching. "LOOK! TSUBAKI YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT THEY BOUGHT ME!!!"

         "What?" Tsubaki came from the kitchen area into the living room and couldn't make out the box that Asaba was waving wildly because it was moving around so much. "Lemme see! Lemme see!"

         "DDR MAX 2 FOR THE PS2!!!!" Asaba and Tsubaki were both jumping down excitedly now.  

         "YES!!!" Tsubaki was trying to dance in circles while jumping around. "Omigod, we have to set it up right now!" 

         "Totally!" Asaba and her began to set the whole thing up when Arima came in through the door. "Hey Arima!" Arima began to walk by, not saying anything. "Guess what-" The door to Asaba and Arima's room slammed shut, cutting off the honey-haired boy. 

         Tsubaki looked at Asaba. "What was that about?"

         "I don't know." Asaba shrugged and was distracted with turning on the PS2. 

         "Wait a second..." Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. "We always tell each other everything, don't we?"

         "Well, yeah..." Asaba looked almost uneasy.

         "Something's up, spill." Tsubaki crossed her arms, sitting on the DDR pad, looking quite resolute.

         "I slept with Arima." Asaba announced and Tsubaki's jaw dropped.

         "YOU DID NOT!" Tsubaki grabbed his shoulders, shaking them rather violently. "Omigod, that's great, was he any good? Does he only like guys?" She began the barrage of questions, still shaking Asaba. 

         "Whoa, whoa!" Asaba twisted away, looking rather dizzy. "Yeah it was good, you know it was his first time and there's something about a person's first time..." 

         For a moment, the two looked upward and seemed almost nostalgic recalling their own first times. 

         "Anyways." Asaba cleared his throat. "Right after that, he started crying _again."_

         "What do you mean _again?" Tsubaki was taken aback. "Why was he crying before? What did you __do Asaba?"_

         "It wasn't me! It was Yukino!" Asaba waved his hands as though to ward away the blame. "See, apparently Arima's like...in love with her or something."

         "Oh boy." Tsubaki tried not to look too negative about that.

         "Yeah, and he tells her when their _making out_, right?" Asaba was still telling the story, not noticing what Tsubaki was staring at. An orange-haired girl who had been listening for quite some time in her doorway. "So she rejects him and the guy was crying in our room...so..."

         "So you laid on the ole' Asapin charm when he was feeling weak?" Tsubaki supplied.

         "He was really depressed and I once read somewhere that sex releases chemicals that make you happy." Asaba defended.

         "Hey, I'm not criticizing what you did." Tsubaki put her hands up. "I just wonder if that was really the best thing to do, I mean, Arima didn't look too happy." Tsubaki sighed. "Yukino, stop being stupid and come out here." 

         "I'm not being stupid." Yukino came out, flopping down on the couch. "I don't see why Arima went around crying to everyone about what happened."

         "You should have offered sympathy sex." Tsubaki advised wisely. "Dude, look what Asaba got from his parents!" The subject was quickly lost for those two.

         "DDR Max 2? Kickass." Yukino tried to cover up the fact that she had this horrible nagging feeling in her stomach. It was unlike anything she'd ever had before. It was like...she was guilty about something. 

         "What's DDR?" Tonami had come into the room. They all tried to smother their groans. 

         "Dance Dance Revolution." Asaba looked insulted that Tonami didn't know what it was. "Do you even _play video games?"_

         "Yeah!" Tonami tried to stand up for himself. "I just didn't know."

         "What are you doing in here?" Yukino was feeling a bit vicious, that nagging feeling was just bothering her and she had to vent. "Nobody _likes_ you Tonami. Especially no one in here! So take your stupid ass crush on Tsubaki and get out!" Yukino stomped over the refrigerator. 

         Asaba and Tsubaki turned towards each other with identical dropped-jaw expressions. Tonami looked rather stricken, as though Yukino had suddenly slapped him. Tonami ran out of the room and Tsubaki and Asaba just blinked, having no idea how to react to this. 

         "Why does everyone have to be so stupid?" Yukino opened a can of soda. 

         "Um...so...I guess, who's ready for some DDR?" Asaba tried feebly. 

         *                                   *                                   *

         His pencil moved across the paper with a ferocity that bordered on obsession. Obsession to bring his failing grades up, obsession to work harder then he ever had before. 

         An obsession to leave reality far behind. 

         He didn't want to talk to anybody, he didn't want to even look at Yukino as they sat in classes together. He wanted to just sink into the ground and never come back up. 

         He hated his life right now, he hated what he had done, and he hated himself most of all. Tsubaki and Asaba were all happily setting up their stupid video game. A VIDEO GAME! It amazed Arima that the two could be lost in their own mundane worlds when everybody else had to face reality. Those two never really had second thoughts, did they? No, they just skated through life. 

         Arima frowned and just pressed harder, which caused his pencil to break. He threw it aside in frustration, grabbing a pen instead; it would be harder to break. He would finish all his work soon and then he would go straight to bed. That way he could wake up before all of them, take a shower, get dressed, and then eat in the cafeteria. He had to avoid his room as much as possible. 

         He was trying to outrun what he had done.

         It had felt good at first, but Arima couldn't handle what he had done. He couldn't handle that it was just screwing and that was it. He felt like he had betrayed Yukino somehow, even though she had rejected him. 

         _It didn't mean anything._

_         I'm a whore._

_         I'm a complete and utter whore._

He dropped his head into his hands and tried to push the pain down, but it was there still. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't face any of them. He picked his pen back up, it was time to get back to work; he didn't have time to think about all this. 

         His reality shattered, Arima finished his schoolwork.

         *                                   *                                            *

         Tsubaki collapsed on her bed. She was damn tired after six straight hours of DDR with Asaba. Plus she had practice tomorrow. She groaned at the thought. She considered just skipping class and pretending she was sick so she could just stay in bed all day. If she skipped, no doubt Asaba would skip too. 

         Tsubaki decided to just skip class and briefly made a note to herself that she had to call the office and report her absence. Then she started to undress. She got into a pair of boxers and t-shirt and started to get under the covers when there was a knock on the door. 

         The room was empty except for her, Shibahime wouldn't be knocking because it was her room too, but Shibahime spent far more time in Kazuma's room then in her own. Could it be Asaba? Would Asaba knock? 

         "Yeah?" Tsubaki called out. The door opened and a hesitant Tonami entered. 

         "Um...hey." Tonami shuffled his feet. 

         "Hey." Tsubaki hoped that people weren't eating her Fruit Loops or she was going to beat them silly tomorrow. A whole day in bed tomorrow; she would probably spend it on the couch in Asaba's room eating Fruit Loops and watching DVD's. 

         "Um, can I talk to you?" Tonami asked. 

         "What about?" Tsubaki wondered briefly if she had left A League of Their Own in her room or in the other living room. It was her favorite movie and she had to keep tabs on it. 

         "Well, it's about today." Tonami came and sat down on her bed. Tsubaki sighed. Was this going to be long? She wanted to sleep. "About what Yukino said."

         "What about it?" Tsubaki really didn't understand what this was about.

         "It's just...well, what she said is true, you know." Tonami looked down at his feet. "I really like you, and...I..." Tsubaki was still up in the air about how much soda was in the fridge. She wanted plenty there. Maybe she would run down to the machines in the morning, or maybe send Asa-

         "What?" Tsubaki shook herself. "What did you say?"

         "I really like you but...it seems like you guys don't like me." Tonami's eyes locked onto hers. He looked really sad at that moment. Tsubaki felt a small part of conscience telling her that she felt bad. 

         "Tonami..." Tsubaki searched her tired mind for a tactful solution to this situation. "Tonami..." Nothing was coming to mind. 

         "Tsubaki..." Tonami didn't seem to understand Tsubaki's unsure face and he reached for her hand. "It's okay...you know, you don't have to say anything."

         "Thanks?" Tsubaki guessed. She tried to think of how she had solved problems similar to this. People had had crushes on her before. And before, it was the same solution: Sex, thus giving them what they wanted, and then Tsubaki let them wander away on their own when she made it quite clear that she wasn't looking for a relationship.

         But have sex with Tonami?

         He really wasn't bad looking, Tsubaki decided as she studied him. His brown eyes looked good with his blonde hair though his head was a _bit _big. And he had a nice body.

         _Hmm...I'm a little tired to be having sex. But...I'm taking the day off tomorrow. _

_         So I guess._

"Hey, Tonami..." Tsubaki scooted next to him. "Let's say we talk about this...later." He was about to say something but Tsubaki shut him up real fast by kissing him.

         _Psh, talk. That's for like, couples being all...monogamous and shit._

_         Dorks._

*                                   *                                   *

         _This sucks. Why do I feel so depressed right now?_

Yukino hadn't felt much up to video games and spent most of the DDR marathon just watching with Maho. And now she was laying in bed thinking about Arima. This was so stupid.

         _It's like I feel bad._

_         Which I don't. _

_         Grrr..._

Even though it was ten o'clock at night, she called her little sister's extension at her house. 

         The curious thing about Tsukino and Kano was that they were far smarter than any normal little kids should be. Of course, they seemed to have absorbed it all from reading far too much manga, but they were usually the best at giving her advice. 

         It rang twice and then Kano answered.

         "Hello, this is Tsukino and Kano!" She greeted her happily.

         "It's me." Yukino chewed on her lip.

         "It's Yukino!" Kano announced to someone else, probably Tsukino.

         "It is! Let me talk! Let me talk!" There was a lot of rustling and Yukino almost smiled at the mental image of the two sisters wrestling over the phone. 

         "Put me on the speaker phone you guys." Yukino practically rolled her eyes. Maho was reading and probably not paying attention to Yukino's phone conversation anyway. 

         "So what's up?" Tsukino's voice asked.

         "Well..." Yukino trailed off. She told them the whole story, as best she could as her sisters listened patiently. Her sisters knew all about what went on with Yukino's friends and after reading so much manga, they deemed it all perfectly normal at their age. Kano went as far as to say that she hoped she could meet such mature and open people one day. Yukino decided that if Kano or Tsukino ever met people like Tsubaki and Asaba, she'd have to lock them up.

         When she finished there was a bit of silence. Then...

         "You realize that the reason you feel guilty and horrible is probably because you're in love with him." Tsukino finally declared.

         "_What?" Yukino squawked. "You guys read waaay too much manga."_

         "It makes sense." Kano agreed with Tsukino. "You feel bad that you couldn't give him exactly what he was seeking. And if Asaba and him really did sleep together, then he's probably feeling even worse. Like you said, he doesn't think the same way as you guys."

         "He'll probably be withdrawn, but if you go to him-" Kano was cut off by Yukino.

         "You two are out of your minds. You don't understand at all." Yukino was desperate to get them to stop. So what if she was the one who called them. "I don't...I can't..."

         "You can 'cause you're a human being and all humans fall in love eventually." Tsukino told her. "If you care about him, you've got to stop denying it to yourself." 

         "I'm not denying anything!" Yukino yelled into the phone in protest. 

         "You're getting awfully up in arms for someone who's not in denial." Kano whistled. 

         "Gah, you two are too young to understand." Yukino folded her arms. "Give my love to mom and dad, I'm tired, I'm going to bed."

         "Okay, we love you too, Yukino." Her sisters said together, though somewhat reluctantly. "Bye." And the call ended. 

         "Your sisters are very smart." Maho added her words of wisdom. "They're barely ever wrong."

         "Whatever." Yukino didn't want to think about it right then. It didn't matter right now. 

         *                                   *                                   *

         Um...doom. What a weird chapter. Kind of. What happens in the next chapter? Part of this chapter was a tribute to my onee-chan. Thanks for the coolest birthday present! ^_^. 


	8. Yukino's Mean

I've had sort of a weird weird week. My poor little Jade heart was broken. But it may be healed again by my super bishounen senpai! ^_^. So I'm bouncing back up. Slowly. Plus I'm funneling my angst into all my writing. I'm sure you're all wondering what's going to happen to our characters! Plus, I hear Lauren really wants a new chapter. ~_^. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: I...like...cookies??? 

Not Permitted

  
Chapter Eight

         Everyone was worried about Arima. It probably didn't help that the melancholy boy had gotten a severe case of anti-socialism as well. The others talked about it when Yukino and Arima weren't around because Yukino didn't want to talk about it and Arima wasn't talking about anything to them.

         Tsubaki had passed on the story as she knew it to the others, most of them surprised (and in some cases, not so surprised) that Asaba had finally 'infiltrated Arima's defenses.' After that, everyone formed their theories about why exactly Arima was so upset.

         Some thought it was his grades.

         Some thought it was Yukino.

         Others thought it might have been the Asaba sex.

         "It's not that Asaba isn't good at it," Tsubaki was telling Shibahime in a scholarly fashion. "That's not the case at all. The thing is that Arima might not be able to handle the idea of just having sex with someone and not practically signing over your whole existence to some monogamy thing."

         "True, but maybe it _is the Yukino thing. Maybe they should have sex." Shibahime continued  the tone as though they were having a philosophical discussion on just what was the sound of one hand clapping. Or, in Arima's case, the sound of one palm being rubbed raw._

         No one knew about the growing tension between Asaba and Yukino at first, but then it became rather apparent one night.

         "You act like a little kid." Yukino rolled her eyes as Asaba danced around the rooms. 

         "Do you need to borrow Tsubaki's red shirt?" Asaba asked her in a snappish tone that surprised the others in the room. Tsubaki watched with round eyes while sipping from a Juicy-Juice box.

         "Maybe you do." Yukino fired back.

         "You're the one that's been all moody since this Arima business started." Asaba pointed out. 

         "You're the one that's been bugging me about it." Yukino knew the argument was getting petty but she really didn't care. 

         "Well maybe if you hadn't been so...so _unfeeling _to poor Arima!" Asaba slammed his hands down on the arm of the couch.

         "Maybe if you hadn't decided to sleep with him you man-whore!" Yukino jumped to her feet in frustration. There was silence as the two glared at each other. The only sound came from Tsubaki who had clearly reached the bottom of her Juicy-Juice.

         "You're the one who's being a cold-hearted bitch!" Asaba began to stalk out of the room. "Don't try to blame this on me, Yukino, it's your fault and you know it!" And with that, he left, slamming the door behind him.

         Tsubaki thought about the one and only time she had seen Asaba angry like that. It had been a year ago when she was being harassed by some guy who was rather relentless. Asaba had actually gone and beat the crap out of the guy with almost no explanation about it. Asaba was just not an angry person.

         "This is so stupid! You guys are all being stupid! There's nothing wrong with Arima!" Yukino walked off, but not to her room; towards Arima and Asaba's room.

         "Tsubaki, I heard a rumor." Shibahime clicked her nails on the table. 

         "What kind of rumor?" Tsubaki threw her juice box away. 

         "That you had sex with Tonami!" Shibahime announced to everyone else in the room. They all looked stunned, every mouth dropped open. 

         "No she didn't!" Aya jumped in. 

         "Yeah, come on Shibahime, there's just no way..." Rika added on. Then they stared at Tsubaki's sheepish face. 

         "Do _not tell me you're serious." Aya looked like she couldn't believe what was going on._

         "Geez, it made him quiet down, didn't it?" Tsubaki felt insulted that they were treating her like she had betrayed them. "Besides, Shibahime, what's up with you and Kazuma? You guys can barely separate yourselves."

         "It's none of your business." Shibahime sniffed.

         "If you all start, I'm leaving." Maho told them coolly. 

         "We aren't fighting. We're _discussing." Shibahime corrected Maho. "This is stupid, and there's no reason __we should be at each other's throats because Arima is angsting." _

         "Exactly." The others agreed.

         *                                            *                                            *

         "That. Is. IT!" Yukino slammed the door behind her angrily, and Arima turned around in surprise and then saw her, freezing up completely. "Will you STOP being such a baby? I have no idea WHY you're avoiding everyone but they keep blaming me! So what the hell is wrong with you?!" 

         Arima hung his head for a few moments. He had to gather his thoughts while Yukino waited for an explanation, breathing heavily. 

         "I tried to take your advice...I'd try to be like you guys...and I discovered something." Arima looked pained.

         "What, that being Mr. I-Desperately-Need-Prozac isn't needed?" Yukino questioned him.

         "It's not supposed to be like that. Sex isn't supposed to be like that." Arima shook his head as though it was very heavy. "It should be with someone you love." His eyes lifted towards Yukino's. She was slightly stunned by this. 

         _He's been sitting here brooding because of this?_

"It made me feel like it was worthless." Arima admitted. 

         "Well, it's not that big of a deal, we all love each other so it's okay." Yukino tried her best at comforting him on this one. Surely even _Arima _could see the logic behind this one.

         "That's not what I mean!" Arima looked angry with her for not understanding. "Not like that! I _really love you. I want to be with you exclusively. I want you to love me like that." _

         "Ha, you're just confused." Yukino brushed it off airily. "Have more sex, you'll be less moody. It's not like this big sacred thing like you make it out to be." Why did it have to be so complicated with him? Why couldn't he just accept that it was just sex?

         "That's why we can't be together." 

         Yukino's eyes widened and her mouth went dry. _What _had Arima just said? Like that was supposed to hurt her feelings? He was the one who was all in love, not her. He was the one who wanted monogamy, not her. She wasn't the one declaring her love. 

         But then...why did it hurt? It felt like Arima had just stabbed her.

         "That's why you'll die alone!" Yukino stuck out her chin.

         Arima didn't say anything. He got up and stormed out of the room, probably leaving it for the first time in days when he didn't have to because of classes. She could hear a brief buzz as the others tried to engage Arima in conversation but she heard the other door slam. It made her cringe for a moment.

         _How stupid is he?_

_         I mean, I know I'm right, so he can just be like this. _

_         "You realize that the reason you feel guilty and horrible is because you're in love with him." _

_         That's so stupid...I don't feel that way._

_         "That's why we can't be together."_

_         Then why do those words hurt so much? Why do I have to feel like this? _

_         So miserable...I feel miserable._

_         But why?_

_         "That's why we can't be together."_

_         What do we do now? _

*                                            *                                            *

         "If you want a room change, you'll have to fill out this form completely, including the reason for changing rooms." The secretary handed him a dark pink sheet covered in writing and spaces. 

         "Thank you." Arima told her before walking away with it.

         _"That's why you'll die alone!"_

_         She could never love me, I'm too horrible..._

_         And so, I have to say good-bye to them._

_         To her._

*                                            *                                            *

         How will this chapter affect things? Don't we wish the fighting would stop? When will the love begin??? Well, you'll find out. 


	9. Dun dun DUN!

I've got three hours to get two different chapters done. Can I do it?! Probably not. But this is getting updated before Somewhere Out There, so feel special or something. I think you'll enjoy this chapter, much like how you've enjoyed many chapters before. ^_^.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: The usual. Angst!

Not Permitted

Chapter Nine

            _Reason for Transfer: Grades._

Arima copied down his grades as compared to his usual grades anywhere else. Wasn't it true? His grades were supposed to be the most important. How stupid could he be? With a heavy heart, he put the room change form into the office. 

            Then he went back to the room. Everyone looked up at him. Of course everyone just _had to be in there, waiting expectantly. What did they expect? _

            "I just turned in a transfer slip." Arima stared at the opposite wall, above everyone's faces. "I'm moving out of this room."

            "What?" He heard Asaba's voice. "No, you can't." 

            "That's not really your choice." Arima replied coldly before he turned and went into his room. He collapsed onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

            _I guess this is it…_

_            Having fun…partying…Yukino…_

_            It's all going to end. I guess I should have seen this coming all along._

_            "Jack's always been a dull boy…"_

_            They were all so accepting of me._

_            They tried to be my friends. They really did. _

_            But how can you be friends with someone like me?_

Arima cried into his arms as quietly as he could.  

            *                                                          *                                              *

            "I can't believe you." Asaba looked at Yukino with a strangely serious expression for him. "You're just going to let him run off and change rooms! Arima!"

            "Yeah, that's a little…" Tsubaki had to side with Asaba. "Think of how cool hanging out with him has been."

            "Shut up." Yukino rubbed her temples. "This isn't my problem. It's Arima's."

            _"That's why we can't be together."_

"I'm sick of you trying to pretend that it doesn't matter to you!" Asaba yelled at her. "I hope you'll be happy when he leaves! If you're miserable, it's exactly what you deserve!" Tsubaki's eyes widened but she followed Asaba out of the room. Presumably they went to Tsubaki's room.  

            "Yukino…maybe…" Shibahime began tentatively. 

            "You know, Asaba's such a hypocrite." Yukino's face tightened visibly. "He makes it seem like I should take responsibility, but when's the last time any of you've seen him take it? Never!" 

            "But, don't you see where this is different?" Kazuma asked. He had put a comforting hand on Shibahime's shoulder. 

            "No, now stop preaching to me." Yukino left the room as well, slamming the door behind her as she went. 

            No one noticed Maho going into Arima's room. 

            *                                                          *                                                          *

            Arima stiffened as he heard the door open behind him. He hoped it wasn't Asaba, but a part of him was wishing it was Yukino. What good would that do? She had made it pretty clear how she felt, hadn't she? He was face down on his bed, maybe whoever it was would be fooled into thinking he was asleep.

            "You're awake." A cool voice told him. Arima knew that voice. 

            _Why is Maho in here?_

"What do you want?" Arima tried to make his voice hard.

            "I want to talk to you, if you're willing to listen." Maho sat in the chair that was next to his desk, her legs crossed primly and her hands folded in her lap. 

            "Fine, what?" Arima turned his head as he sat up. Maho's blue eyes only widened slightly at the sight of his tear-streaked face. Only slightly. 

            "You're being a fool." Maho told him simply.

            "Thank you Maho, I feel three hundred times better now." Arima glared at her. What the hell was this? Was he being a fool because he didn't want to sit there and fight with Yukino for the rest of the school year?

            "Calm down, you're being too emotional." Maho looked slightly annoyed with his behavior.

            "I'm being _too emotional? I bet you could say that to a rock Maho." Arima didn't know if Maho was in there trying to help him out or piss him off further. _

            "Will you be quiet for a second?" Maho asked sharply. Arima rolled his eyes at her. He was not in the mood for Maho's version of a pep talk. "Don't transfer or you'll regret it."

            "Why is that?" Arima was a little curious now. 

            "Do you think you're the only person who has ever wanted Yukino to be in a relationship?" Maho asked him, her eyes softening slightly, almost as if she was horribly sad. 

            _"Well, I've never seen Maho with a guy before but…"_

_            Is Maho…?_

_            Is that the reason? _

_            And she's probably never said anything to Yukino about it. _

_            She wasn't stupid, like me._

"What are you trying to say?" Arima asked her.

            "I'm trying to say that Yukino doesn't realize how deeply people care for her." Maho looked up at the ceiling. "And going away won't help her see that. Stay here, you'll see."

            "No." Arima shook his head. 

            "You'll just run away? Yukino's being the coward right now; she's scared of what's going on around her. Part of Yukino has grown up; she doesn't think everything is as fun as it used to be. Stay here and she'll realize it faster. She's just being stubborn." Maho explained this all in an almost condescending tone. 

            "What are you talking about?" Arima was confused by her words.

            "If you can't see it then I'm not going to explain it to you." Maho stood up. "Now go to the office and tell them that you've changed your mind."

            "I haven't changed my mind." Arima could hear Maho's surprise. "I can't take it. I can't."

            "Then maybe you don't deserve her." Maho shrugged. "I guess I was wrong."

            "Yeah?! Well maybe you were wrong!" Arima yelled. "Why are you here Maho? To tell me I should just pine for her? I'm not going to do that."

            "That's not what I said. If you were listening, you would have heard reason." Maho shrugged. "It doesn't matter." Then she left the room. Arima threw a pillow angrily at the wall. 

            _Why does it have to be like this?_

*                                                          *                                                          *

            "It's just not fair." Asaba flopped down on Tsubaki's bed. 

            "I know." Tsubaki told him sympathetically. "But you shouldn't blame yourself. It's really between Arima and Yukino."

            "You know…I've never felt bad before…after I've slept with someone." Asaba's hand slid down Tsubaki's side. "Maybe I shouldn't have?"

            "Well, maybe." Tsubaki agreed. "It's not like you knew it was going to turn out like this." 

            "I still feel bad for Yukino and Arima." Asaba rolled over and looked up at Tsubaki's ceiling. "I feel like I messed it up worse for them." He was suddenly staring into Tsubaki's big purple eyes.

            "Hey, we don't need any more angsting teenagers. Besides, I think you did what you felt you should do." Tsubaki kissed his nose. "Do you have to do more?"

            "Thanks Tsubaki." Asaba smiled at her. 

*                                                          *                                                          *

            "Is Tsubaki here?" Tonami asked the others who all turned and looked at him, unsure on how to respond. After all, the news that Tsubaki had slept with him was a little shocking for them. Granted, Tsubaki had slept with a lot of people but this was just a little different.

            "Um…no." Aya finally got out before lighting a cigarette. "I think her and Asaba are going about the usual business in Tsubaki's room." 

            "Hmmm." Tonami's face twisted a little. "I think she hangs out with him too much."

            "I don't think Aya was talking about hanging out." Shibahime informed him. "She was talking about Asaba and Tsubaki's usual activity." This did _not improve Tonami's mood._

            "I think Tsubaki deserves better." Tonami told them all knowledgeably. 

            "Um, right." Rika shot a confused look at Aya.

            "Yeah, well, go tell Tsubaki that." Aya waved a hand at him dismissively. "When she kicks you out a window, don't come to us." 

            "Why would she do that?" Tonami asked them. "You guys don't know much about it do you?" And with that, he smugly walked out.

            "Uh, I don't think he knows anything about it." Shibahime shook her head. "Oh well."

            "I wonder if everything will get resolved." Rika sighed a little. 

            "I'm sure it will." Aya flicked her cigarette.

*                                                          *                                              *

            Arima folded a pair of pants and put them into a suitcase. It was a slow process, but very precise. He couldn't believe the transfer had gone through so quickly. Two days had gone by since he had turned it in and he got a slip saying he could move into room 114. 

            _It won't really be the same though…_

"Are you really going to leave?" Asaba asked him. Asaba was sitting on his own bed, watching Arima quietly with his knees tucked under his chin. 

            "It's better this way." Arima didn't look up.

            "I want you to stay. So do the others." Asaba sounded sad. 

            "Listen, I just…can't." Arima avoided looking at the sad honey-haired boy. "It's not because of you or the others." 

            "It's about Yukino, right?" Asaba asked.

            "I don't want to talk about this anymore." Arima picked up another shirt. He was surprised when a few moments later, the door shut, announcing Asaba had left.

            _I'm sorry Asaba._

*                                                          *                                              *

            "That's it!" Asaba was standing on the coffee table in front of Yukino, pointing a finger at her. "He's going to leave tomorrow morning."

            "So?" Yukino felt like crying but was holding it all in. She wanted to drown herself in booze; unfortunately they had none so she had to settle for Yoo-hoo. 

            "Well, how's this," Asaba put his hands on his hips. "Would you rather have monogamy or no Arima?" 

            "Arggggggghhhhhhh." Yukino groaned. The sound made Tsubaki and Shibahime launch into Jack Sparrow impersonations. "You guys, can't you stop?"

            "No, savvy?" Tsubaki pointed both her index fingers at Yukino as if shooting guns at her. 

            "Nobody can beat Captain Jack Sparrow!" Shibahime declared happily. 

            "Monogamy or no Arima?" Asaba repeated the two choices.

            "Can't you just leave me alone?" Yukino drank the last of her bottle of Yoo-hoo.

            "Pick!" Asaba demanded.

            "Argh, pick, savvy?" Tsubaki jumped onto the table as well, next to Asaba. Yukino shook her head. 

            "Yeah, pick!" Shibahime forgot her impersonation as she too tried to jump on the table but accidentally slipped on a magazine and went flying onto the couch. 

            "I hate you guys!" Yukino jumped up and ran straight to Arima and Asaba's room. She shut it and leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. Then she looked up to see a stunned Arima. 

            They didn't say anything at all. 

            _I'm going to have to pick…_

"Is there something you wanted?" Arima asked, seeming detached from the situation as he continued to pack.

            "I just wanted…" Yukino swallowed. What would her sisters say to do? They would tell her to do what her heart told her to do. They could be sappy like that. "I wanted to tell you that I've had a lot of fun this year."

            "Hmmm." Arima didn't really seem to be listening.

            "And…" Yukino trailed off. She was going to have to tell him how she felt. "It was never this fun before. You made this year great." Arima continued to pack. Yukino couldn't stand it anymore.

            She marched over and slammed his suitcase shut and then sat on it. Arima's eyes widened a little. "Listen to me!" 

            "I'm listening." Arima protested.

            "I'm saying that you're too important and I won't lose you." Yukino declared. Arima's mouth dropped open. "I…I want to try."

            "Try what?" Arima pressed her.

            "I want to try to have a relationship with you." Yukino felt a lot braver. "I'll try this monogamy thing." She was surprised by Arima suddenly wrapping his arms around her, hugging her to him. Yukino returned the hug readily. 

            "I…I…." Arima couldn't seem to think of anything to say. 

            "And I think our first order of business is to show you the wonders of sex with the opposite gender." Yukino grinned at him. "Since Asaba gave you a thorough grounding in the joys of sex with your own gender."

            "About that, I-" Arima began.

            "Arima?" Yukino leaned in and kissed him. "Please shut up." And with that, the two fell over onto the bed together.

*                                                          *                                                          *

WOOOOOOOOOO! Okay, how's that for cool cat cool stuff? Omigod, it's been forever since I've said cool cat cool. I feel so nostalgic! Don't worry the story still has some more chapters to go before it ends! So stay tuned! 


	10. The Angst Will Never End

I accidentally deleted this chapter once. And had to write it again. This delayed it for like a further two weeks. Cause I have such a hard time re-writing things. Enjoy!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: You've made it this far…

Not Permitted

Chapter Ten

            The day after they had gotten together, most of the waiting roommates and non-roommates had fallen asleep on the couches. Groggily, they rubbed the sleep from their eyes and started going about their daily business. People began making breakfast, people began playing games of tag that seemed as though they were only created so people would have an excuse to start making out in the middle of the living room, and people watched TV, waiting for someone to make them breakfast or hoping someone who made breakfast sat next to them so they could "share." 

            Then Arima came out.  
            Everyone looked at him expectantly; after all, they just _had_ to know. What happened with him and Yukino last night? Arima was grinning like an idiot, something they didn't see all that often, so they knew it was something good. He didn't say anything so the others had to watch in anticipation. 

            He was whistling as well. Finally, Asaba could not take it anymore.

            "What happened?!" Asaba asked. Arima turned towards him, the big goofy grin on his face growing ever wider.

            "We're together." Arima told them. 

            "You are?!" Tsubaki jumped up and Arima nodded in his blissful state. "Wow…you guys are like…monogamous…and stuff…"

            "Good morning." Yukino yawned as she came out of the bedroom. She was wearing what was obviously one of Arima's shirts and a pair of his boxers. She looked around at the others. "What's with you guys?"

            "You guys are a couple, you guys are a couple!" Asaba sang, dancing and prancing around the room like there was no tomorrow. 

            "Yeah, we're together." Arima informed them all again. Maho rolled her eyes; she didn't think Arima was going to recover from this for a while. 

            "Ariiiiiiiiimaaaaaaaa!" Yukino glomped him as though she hadn't seen him in three years. 

            "That's great that you guys are together." Aya put in before lighting a cigarette. 

            "We're all happy again!" Asaba kept on singing. "We have to throw a party tonight!"

            "Yeah, yeah!" Tsubaki agreed. Then she looked at the cuddling Arima and Yukino. "I think I'm gonna need some booze."

            "We're together." Arima told them all helpfully. Yukino giggled. 

            "Lots of booze." Maho agreed. 

*                                              *                                              * 

            Eventually, Arima and Yukino came down from their cloud and stopped annoying the others with constant "cutesy stuff" as Tsubaki started to call it. Everyone was happy for them, but at the same time, everyone began to get annoyed with constant cuteness. However, just when everything had returned to almost normal, (meaning everyone had gotten used to Yukino and Arima, who weren't acting quite as silly) other problems began to arise. 

            Not amongst the happy couple, of course, but others began to notice that something strange was going on with Tsubaki.

            Tsubaki was pretty predictable. And then suddenly, she wasn't. She wasn't constantly found in the 'Party' room as they had dubbed it. She wasn't running around with Asaba like they were joined at the hip. (One of the many jokes the group liked to make for obvious reasons.) 

            She was suddenly a little withdrawn, like she was distracted by something else. In fact, Tsubaki had become downright _secretive_. The first person to point out the changes was Asaba.

            "You're never around anymore!" Asaba whined one day. 

            No one really understood it. They sat around guessing, making up theories that ranged from realistic to the completely unbelievable. No one had nailed it until Shibahime came forward and spilled the beans. 

            "Tonami is constantly in Tsubaki's room and I don't think they're playing Scrabble in there." Shibahime informed the others. 

            Everyone was shocked by this. Oh sure, Tsubaki had slept with him once, but it wasn't like Tsubaki to sleep with the same person over and over again. Unless it was someone in the group. Asaba was not taking it well at all. 

            "Oh hello." He said coolly to Tsubaki when she came in one afternoon.

            "What's with you?" Tsubaki asked him. 

            "Well, you wouldn't know, you're never here." Asaba flipped through the channels on the TV looking irritated. 

            "Oh geez, I'm here _now_." Tsubaki punched him in the arm. "What's up?"

            "Do you wanna go get some party supplies with me later?" Asaba asked her pleadingly. "I can't go with anyone else, its tradition."

            "Well…" Tsubaki looked hesitantly at the clock. "I've got a lot of homework." She lied. Asaba turned off the TV huffily.

            "Fine." Asaba said, obviously upset. "Fine." He got up and stalked over into the kitchen. 

            "Asaba?!" Tsubaki stood up. "What's the deal with you today?" 

            "What's the deal with _me_?" Asaba asked her, his voice rising in pitch. "What's the deal with me?! You're never around, and it's because you're screwing stupid boy!" 

            "It's not that big of a deal." Tsubaki defended herself. "You're just overreacting."

            "Oh, am I?" Asaba asked her. "Well, he takes up all your time, it's like you're involved with him! _Exclusively!_" And between the two of them, this was considered a grave insult.

            "Fine, you know what? If you're gonna act like this, I'm going to my room!" Tsubaki stalked out, startling Yukino and Arima who were coming in at that moment.

            Thus the two began to discuss the problem between the two of them, because it was obviously getting out of hand. Asaba could be seen moping and snapping at anyone who asked about Tsubaki. 

            No one dared mention Tonami, because every time somebody did, Asaba went into a bit of a rant, and was known for never actually calling Tonami by his name anymore, usually replacing it with something that referred to how fat Tonami's head was.

            The subject was only brought up in whispers whenever Asaba wasn't around.

            "Him and Tsubaki have been best friends forever." Yukino explained to Arima. "And I don't think I've ever seen them really get angry with each other."

            "He's probably having a hard time dealing with this because he's not used to Tsubaki keeping things from him." Arima theorized. 

            Arima even tried to talk to the usually hyperactive boy, but it didn't really make much of a difference.

            "I don't want to talk about Tsubaki and what she does with Fathead." Asaba turned over on his bed so he was facing away from Arima. 

            "Well, it seems like it's bothering you." Arima pointed out.

            "It's not." Asaba snapped.

            _Gods, he's acting just like I was._

_            I'm surprised no one shot me when I was like this._

"You know, you're the one who kept telling me to not hide from my problems, but you aren't doing a spectacular job of facing them yourself." Arima told him.

            "That was completely different." Asaba replied quickly.

            "How so?" Arima asked.

            "Because you and Yukino were just being dumb." Asaba explained. "If you guys would have realized how stupid you were being, it would have worked out so much quicker." 

            "Gee, thanks Asaba." Arima said wryly. 

            The next day, Arima told Yukino that he wasn't going to try to talk to Asaba again for a little while.

            On the other side of it, Tsubaki wasn't exactly thrilled with her situation. Yes, she slept with Tonami a lot but found that unless they were having sex, he was really damn boring. In fact, she kind of zoned him out whenever he started talking, and instead thought about more important things. Like how she made doodles in French class instead of actually working.

            But today, Tonami was going to attract her attention when he spoke.

            "I don't think you should hang out with Asaba anymore." Tonami informed her. Tsubaki looked at him strangely.

            "That's nice." She went back to staring at the ceiling.

            "He's a bad influence on you—" Tonami was cut off by Tsubaki.

            "Um, Tonami, shut up." Tsubaki told him. "I can hang out with whoever I damn well want to."

            "Well, it's just that I think we should be…monogamous." Tonami finished. Tsubaki hit him with a pillow.

            "Get out, just go." Tsubaki groaned. "You're being stupid." 

            Tonami left and Tsubaki was sure that she had nipped that in the bud. No way was Tonami going to do anything stupid or bring up that subject again around her. No siree. 

            Unfortunately, Tsubaki thought wrong.

            Tonami's logic was that he knew Tsubaki and Asaba slept together and in order for Tsubaki to be in a relationship with him (which was his goal) he had to separate the two of them completely. Tsubaki wasn't about to cut herself off voluntarily. So Tonami decided that he would make sure that Asaba got the message to stay away from Tsubaki.

            Asaba was still bitter about the whole thing with Tsubaki, and the other people in the group were forced to discuss it amongst themselves.

            "Personally, I think that Asaba needs to go out and have sex." Aya told the others. "He doesn't go out at all anymore, and he hasn't brought anyone home, has he?" 

            "No he hasn't." Arima shook his head. 

            "He's probably backed up." Shibahime agreed. 

            "Wow, it's hard to imagine Asaba so upset that he can't even have sex." Yukino shook her head, amazed at such a thought.

            The next day was Thursday, and Asaba was walking back to the room after class when he was stopped by Tonami. Tonami stood in front of him, and when Asaba tried to step around him, Tonami stepped in that direction as well, making it impossible for Asaba to avoid him.

            "Okay, what do you want?" Asaba finally asked, getting sick of Tonami not letting him go by. 

            "I want to talk to you about Tsubaki." Tonami told him. 

            "That's nice, but I've got places to see and people to do." Asaba tried to wave merrily and walk on by but Tonami blocked him. 

            "Stay away from her." Tonami said in a warning voice.

            "Stay away from her?" Asaba raised his eyebrows. 

            "Yeah, don't hang around her anymore." Tonami told him. "She doesn't need _you_."

            "Does Tsubaki know that you're talking to me like this?" Asaba inquired. "Because I think that if she did, she'd be down here kicking your ass."

            "She won't listen to me because of you." Tonami accused him. "You're the one who makes her hate me."

            "Actually, that would be you and your fat head." Asaba replied coolly. "Now stop holding me up."

            "Not until you promise to not go near Tsubaki." Tonami demanded. 

            "Tsubaki's my best friend and I'll go near her all I want." Asaba told him defiantly. "Are you going to stop her from seeing all her friends?"

            "I should!" Tonami shouted. "You're all a bunch of whores and—" 

            Tonami stopped speaking abruptly. This was due to the fact that Asaba had reached back his fist and hit Tonami as hard as he could, knocking the blond boy over. 

            "You can call me whatever you want, but if you make fun of my friends, you're going to have to own up." Asaba rubbed his knuckles. 

            "I'll call them whatever I want!" Tonami lunged at Asaba. Soon a free-for-all developed between the two. A crowd of people gathered to watch, most of them cheering for Asaba, who was much more popular then Tonami.

            This was until a teacher came along.

            "You TWO!" The teacher yanked Asaba away from Tonami and another teacher came rushing in to keep Tonami from lunging at Asaba. "You will stop this display this instant!" Soon, she had them separated, and they had to give her their names so she could fill out detention slips. Then they were sent to the nurse. Asaba had only a few minor scrapes and a cut lip. Tonami had obviously been losing, and sported a black eye as well as a bloody nose. 

            Asaba didn't think it was fair that he got detention for a fight that Tonami had so clearly started. 

            Then he went up to the room where he was greeted by the sight of Yukino and Arima looking like worried mother hens. 

            "What happened to you?" Yukino gaped at him.

            "Is it that bad?" Asaba joked. 

            "Really, what happened?" Arima asked. "You look like you were in a fight."

            "I was. Loser McFathead started it." Asaba told them right away in case they had any doubts. 

            "But…you never fight!" Yukino looked confused by this revelation. "I mean, I've never seen you in a fight before like this." 

            "I'm okay, but you should see Tonami." Asaba shrugged. "I'm going to my room now." And with that, he went inside Arima and his room.

            Tsubaki came bursting in five seconds later. 

            "I heard that Asaba got into a fistfight with Tonami!" Tsubaki announced. "Is it true?!"

            "It is." Yukino informed her, pointing to the still firmly closed door. "He's in the room."

            "_What_?" 

-----------------

            Omigod, I am so done. And I'm saving the chapter this time.  


	11. Poor Asaba

Hullo darlings. It's been a while since I've updated but here I am again! I swear I didn't forget. Nope. Thanks for the reviews you guys! Come on Eileen…Sorry, I'll stop singing. You want the story and dammit, I'm gonna give it to you. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano. (It's only a matter of time before it ends up on Ebay and then I'll be there. Like a ninja wombat waiting in the shadows.)

Warnings: The return to angst baby.

Not Permitted

Chapter Eleven

            "Okay, what the hell is going on?" Tsubaki asked as she burst into Asaba's room. Asaba had propped up some pillows (including Arima's) and was sitting up in bed, looking like he was thinking. "You did _not _get into a fistfight with Tonami."

            "Yeah I did." Asaba's brow furrowed in irritation. "Is that so hard to imagine?" And then he looked away, silence settling in. "He's controlling you."

            Tsubaki's eyes widened and she bounced onto his bed in protest. "No way. He is not! Why'd you fight? It's just not like you. I'm the one who gets into the brawls." She had never seen Asaba get into a fistfight before. Until recently, she had never seen Asaba fight with Yukino but still. 

            _It's like after all these years there's still things I don't know about Asaba._

_            It sounds impossible._

"Maybe I thought I was fighting for something." Asaba shrugged. 

            "What the fuck does that mean?" Tsubaki was bewildered and at the same time curious. Fighting for something? 

            "I'm not going to let him tie you down!" Asaba turned towards her and grabbed her shoulders. "It just…It feels like I'm losing you." Tsubaki just shook her head.

            "What do you mean? We're best friends." Tsubaki smiled affectionately at the honey-haired boy. This was truth. She was not as close to anyone as she was to Asaba. They had always been together. She couldn't even imagine a world without Asaba. "We understand sex isn't love. And that sex doesn't have to result in some big relationship."

            It was practically their mantra. Sex doesn't equal a relationship. It was what they always said to each other anytime they were confused about it. They were having the time of their lives and nothing could spoil that. Not with that being said. It was like they were magic words and as soon as Tsubaki said them, all their troubles would disappear. 

            _See, Asaba will realize this is ridiculous. _

_            He can't lose me._

_            What would he lose me to?_

"Well, maybe we should." 

            There was a pause of complete disbelief as Tsubaki stared at him, her wide purple eyes stricken that _Asaba _of all people would say something like that. 

            _The same guy we joke about not being to commit to a single gender???_

When Tsubaki managed to stop gaping at him she tried to shake her herself. "Yeah, whatever don't say things like that. It's not funny." 

            _That's right. It's a joke. It's just a stupid joke that Asaba is making._

_            He's not serious at all._

"I'm not joking." Asaba told her before leaning in to kiss her. Tsubaki reeled back in terror.

            "What the hell? What the hell?!" Tsubaki pushed him away as much as she possibly could. 

            _This isn't possible._

_            This just isn't possible._

_            This is a dream and when I'll wake up, Asaba will be normal!_

Tsubaki fled from the room, only to be greeted by the sight of Yukino and Arima together on the couch. She was seized with anger at the couple who had just been being a cute half second earlier. 

            "This is all YOUR FAULT!" Tsubaki yelled at them before leaving the room and heading for her own. 

            When she got there, Tonami was sitting on her bed waiting for her. Tsubaki picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him out of her room, throwing him unceremoniously onto the floor in the living room before slamming her and Shibahime's bedroom door shut. 

            _I don't want to think about what he just said. _

_            I don't want to think about it._

_            Why does he want to change things?_

"Tsubaki! What's wrong?" Tonami asked, knocking on her bedroom door. Tsubaki stomped over, threw it open and punched him in the jaw, which was very reminiscent of his day thus far.

            "I'm _never _talking to you again!" Tsubaki yelled at him. "You ruined everything you stupid prick! Gah! It was _just _sex!" And then she slammed the door again. 

            _Why does he want to change things?_

*                                              *                                              *

            "I'm so freaking glad its Friday I could cry." Aya told Rika while searching her pockets for her cigarettes. Ah, there they were. She took one out and then searched for a lighter. Thank the gods Rika was around and was always ready for such a time. 

            "Here." Rika lit Aya's cigarette with her lighter she carried around because Aya _always _forgot her own. "How did your story do in your creative writing class?"

            "Eh, I got a B." Aya sighed miserably. "It was so A worthy! I thought it was brilliant." 

            "I thought it was very good too." Rika agreed truthfully. They were nearing the 'Party Room' when Shibahime and Kazuma came up to them. 

            As Aya and Rika had speculated, the two were obviously having sex and seemed to being somewhat exclusive about it. They wondered if the two were secretly having a relationship and just weren't telling the group about it.

            "I heard about that too." Shibahime was talking to Kazuma about something. "I can't believe Asaba got into a fight. It must have been the coolest fight ever."

            "Cooler then the fight that you and Yukino got in over that hair scrunchie last year?" Aya asked, winking at the honey-haired girl. 

            "It was _mine_." Shibahime insisted as though this was an argument that had been talked over many times. "So, did you guys hear about Asaba and Tonami's fight?"

            "Yeah!" Rika and Aya said together. 

            "I wish I could have seen it." Rika clapped her hands together. "After all, Tonami has been a real jerk lately."

            "He fucking _deserved _it I'm sure." Aya added on. "Oh well, come on, I need to find an ash tray." They all went into the 'Party Room'. The only thing they saw was Yukino and Arima looking worried while Asaba played Grand Theft Auto III and didn't look like he wanted to be disturbed. 

            "Hey you guys!" Shibahime bounced and hugged Yukino. 

            "Will you guys shut up?" Asaba asked snappishly. 

            "What's up with Asaba?" Aya inquired. 

            "Um, well, we aren't sure." Yukino frowned. "We're trying to find that out." 

            "There's nothing wrong." Asaba insisted in a no nonsense sort of tone. A very un-Asaba tone indeed. 

            "Obviously there is." Shibahime flicked him on the back of the head. "So what is it?"

            "None of your business!" Asaba threw down the controller. "Why don't you guys just leave me alone?"

            "'Cause something's wrong." Yukino told him hesitantly. "It might help to talk about it."

            "Shut up!" Asaba jumped up. "I really don't need to hear this from the two of _you_." Asaba pointed at Yukino and Arima who shot each other confused looks. 

            "What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Arima asked him defensively. 

            "I don't want to talk about it!" Asaba stomped his foot and then turned, stalking into his room and slamming the door behind him. 

            "Maybe…we should…go ask Tsubaki?" Kazuma suggested slowly. "Maybe she knows what's going on."

            "She seemed pretty pissed the last time she saw us." Yukino supplied with a wry look. "What did _we _do?"

            "Let's just go ask Tsubaki." Rika agreed with Kazuma's suggestion. They all agreed to this and went into the other room to go bang on Tsubaki's door.

            This turned out as fruitless as asking Asaba. 

            "Leave me alone, Asaba's being stupid!" Tsubaki yelled through the door. Then she went silent and Maho suggested that Tsubaki probably put on her headphones and probably couldn't hear them anyways. 

            "So…what does this mean?" Shibahime asked the others.

            "I'm afraid…" Yukino bit her lip. "This means no party today." 

            "Omigod, this is a first for this group." Aya shook her head.

            "Tell me about it." Maho said dryly. 

            "Well, then…" Yukino shrugged. "I guess…you know…go back to your rooms." Everyone departed except those who lived in that particular room, looking at each other strangely. It just wasn't right. They could all feel that.

            It was so strange that Asaba and Tsubaki were being this way that Yukino and Arima found themselves on the couch, trying to watch TV but finding themselves paying less attention to the game show then to discussing the problem and other things.

            "Popcorn?" Yukino came back to sit on the couch with the bowl.

            "Sure." Arima smiled at her before waiting for her to sit down so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders and they could cuddle up and eat popcorn. 

            "This whole thing…" Yukino sighed. "It's just weird." 

            "Yeah it is." Arima agreed. 

            "Tsubaki and Asaba _never_ fight." Yukino shook her head in pure disbelief. "Seriously, those two will get into arguments but nothing that's ever been like this. It's like, everything's changing."

            _And what was with Tsubaki?_

_            "This is all YOUR FAULT!"_

_            What did that mean?_

_            What did we do?_

_            And Asaba made it sound like we had done something as well…_

_            But they seem to be madder at each other then Arima and me._

"Maybe everything is changing for them." Arima suggested in a thoughtful tone. Yukino looked at him curiously. "Well, I was just thinking that those two have always treated life like a never ending amusement park. Maybe…maybe they realized it isn't always like that."

            "Those two can always think of ways to amuse themselves. That's one of those things. They're always where the fun's at." Yukino snuggled closer to Arima; it made her feel so much better when he wrapped his arms around her. 

            "And now everything isn't fun for them." Arima speculated. "Something must have happened."

            "You don't think it has anything to do with Tonami?" Yukino suddenly asked as the thought popped into her head. "I mean if you think about it, they had problems right around the time that Tsubaki started sleeping with Tonami all the time."

            "That's a good point." Arima told her. "After all, Tonami and Asaba got into a fight and then Tsubaki and him argued." 

            "Ugh, I hope Tsubaki didn't stick up for dork boy." Yukino made a face.

            "I don't think she did." Arima seemed to be thinking very hard. 

            "Then what did they argue about? And what does it have to do with us?" Yukino questioned him. "Remember? She came out and told us that it was all our faults." 

            "She just could have been looking for someone to blame…" Arima squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. "Maybe…maybe, well you know, what makes us different from everyone else in the group?"

            "Um…?" Yukino couldn't think of anything and just sat there looking puzzled. 

            "We're an exclusive couple." Arima reminded her.

            "Oh yeah." Yukino grinned. "Didn't think of that." 

            "That's _real _reassuring." Arima rolled his eyes. 

            "What? It's not like I'm sleeping with other people." Yukino pretended to get offended. "I was just—"

            "It's okay; I understand what you were getting at." Arima rested his chin on top of Yukino's head. "I was just teasing you." 

            "You always do that." Yukino's eyelids started to feel sort of heavy. 

            "It's fun." Arima explained. "Anyways, what if you know, they argued about maybe…being an exclusive couple?" 

            Yukino began to laugh so hard there were tears in her eyes before she could stop herself. 

            "Omigod!" Yukino finally finished up her laughter. "Tsubaki and Asaba arguing about being in a relationship. That's just funny."

            "You don't think it's possible?" Arima raised an eyebrow. 

            "Well…" Yukino thought about it. "Well maybe. I guess it's a possibility but man, those two aren't exactly preaching marriage you know?" 

            "Neither were you." Arima reminded her. 

            "I was being stupid." Yukino tapped a finger on his nose. "'Cause now I get full Arima rights. All for me! None for other people!" 

            "I like it when you're possessive." Arima bent down to kiss her head. He was starting to get sleepy. "Obviously Asaba's not going to open the door for me. Wanna sleep out here tonight?"

            "Okay!" Yukino ran to go get some blankets and a pillow. They made up a bed on the couch and curled up together. Arima glanced down at Yukino when she had finally fallen asleep.

            _Maybe Asaba realized what he was missing out on._

_            It's strange to think about but maybe…maybe those two are growing._

*                                              *                                              *

            I'm so done, it's not even funny. Now I just have to go update everything else. ^_^. Woo. So hopefully I'll get another Somewhere Out There update and I already have my Close Your Eyes update. Super cool, n'est-ce pas? (Translation for Those of you who don't speak French: Super cool, is it not so?) French lesson of the day brought to you by Jade who does a pretty decent job in her French class. Sometimes. It's amazing what you can learn when you aren't reading in your language lab. Ohohohohoho. Don't follow Jade's bad bad example. But do review!!!


	12. The End!

Hey you guys! Back again to update! Updating is good. Updating is fun. (Omigod, I sound just like my weird novel that I've been writing for the past two days.) So…instead of wondering if it's effecting my psyche, I'm just gonna give you this chapter. It's a really good chapter. In fact, it's the last chapter. 

Thank You's: Oh my god, where to begin. Teresa. Teresa, I hope you know that while I'm typing this chapter I'll be looking at the notes that you wrote out almost a year ago for this story. Some of them are quite funny. ("à After, Arima's all conflicted, withdrawn, can't handle the whole casual sex thing, all depressed, thinks he's a ho.") Thank you for helping me figure out everything else. This was originally a dedication to the fact that I came out as a bisexual, but considering that happened almost a year ago, it seems kind of weird to still be dedicating it to that. So, bisexuals everywhere, we rule. ^_^. I have to thank Kare Kano for having a character like Asaba who is so flamboyant that it was quite easy to picture him sleeping with guys. (I know he's kidding and all that but sometimes…don't you just get this feeling he might not be?) That way everyone else could just fall in line for the story. I want to thank the reviewers who seemed to love this story. I'm glad it was fun for you guys. I do have another Kare Kano AU on my hard drive which is not nearly as risqué. It's pretty cute and funny but it won't be up for awhile because I am SO backed up on my stories. But eventually. So you'll just have to satisfy yourself by reading others. (If you haven't yet, please try Josephine, my song fic about Arima that I'm proud of.) Thanks for your reviews. The title of this story comes from a translation to the ending theme of Kare Kano. And if I could find that translation I would give you the line. Heehee. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Kare Kano.

Warnings: The usual. Here we go into the night!

Not Permitted

Chapter Twelve 

            Yukino and Arima were getting breakfast the next day when Asaba came out of his bedroom. 

            He was wearing pajamas but over his pajamas, he was wearing this pink robe. Not bright pink but still pink. Immediately, Yukino knew there was something familiar about that robe. Like she had seen it before…somewhere…

            Asaba didn't seem to notice them as he grabbed the Fruit Loops, which as Yukino recalled were _Tsubaki's._

"He doesn't look so good…" Arima whispered hesitantly as Asaba got a bowl and the carton of milk and went to sit in front of the TV. 

            "I've seen that robe before…" Yukino tried to remember. Pink robe. Who owned a pink robe? Maybe Asaba had had sex with someone—

            _Ah ha! _

"It's Tsubaki's sex robe!" Yukino quietly exclaimed. "I wonder when she left that here…"

            "What is Asaba doing?" Arima asked as he watched the honey-haired boy put in a DVD and begin to watch it, eating a bowl of Fruit Loops, and grabbing a box of Kleenex. 

            "Um…I don't know." Yukino shook her head. "What is he watching?" She walked over behind the couch and then came back quickly. "Okay, he's watching A League of Their Own. That's like Tsubaki's favorite movie of all time."

            "He's obviously really upset about it." Arima watched Asaba burst into tears as soon as the movie started. 

            "This isn't good…" Yukino was looking really uneasy. "Maybe we should just leave him alone?"

            And so they did. They went into Yukino's room and ended up playing cards with Maho for awhile. When they finally did leave the room, they found that Asaba was still watching the movie and crying his eyes around. 

            So they went down to the library. They returned some books and checked some more out. They hung around for a little bit, before going back up. 

            Asaba was still watching the movie.

            "Wait a second…" Yukino looked at the screen suspiciously. "He started the movie over!" 

            "I think he ate of Tsubaki's Fruit Loops." Arima peered curiously at the now empty box and an empty bowl. 

            "I think I'm going to try and talk to him." Yukino took a deep resolute breath. She thought of how her sisters would talk to her back at home. They usually brought cocoa to her. Cocoa was calming.

            So Yukino made a cup of hot cocoa for both herself and Asaba. Then she approached the couch. 

            "Hey Asaba." Yukino smiled at him.

            "Hello." Asaba sniffled. He blew his nose in a Kleenex and then tossed it into the pile he had going of used ones. 

            "I've got some cocoa for you." Yukino offered him the cup and Asaba took it gratefully. He blew on it a few times before taking a small drink. 

            "Tsubaki really likes hot cocoa." Asaba told her tearfully.

            "I know." Yukino patted his arm. There was some silence as he took another drink.

            "Is monogamy…is it good?" Asaba asked her hesitantly. Yukino almost started laughing at him. She knew she shouldn't so she smothered all urges to giggle. 

            "Well, it's really nice." Yukino wondered where this question was even coming from. "I remember thinking it would be boring and annoying but its nice knowing there's someone that loves you exclusively."

            "That's good." Asaba sniffled once more. "That sounds really nice." 

            "Is something wrong Asaba?" Yukino attempted to ask. Asaba set down his hot chocolate and threw his arms around Yukino and began to sob.

            "I'm in love with Tsubaki!" Asaba wailed into her shoulder.

            "Oh Asaba." Yukino hugged him. "It's okay. Did you tell her?"

            "I tried to but…she doesn't care…" Asaba kept sobbing into her shoulder. "She'll never want me…" 

            "It'll be okay." Yukino told him. "I'm gonna go talk to Tsubaki, okay?"

            "Not like it'll help." Asaba pulled away from her. "I'm just gonna watch this movie." 

            "I bet it will." Yukino quickly hugged him one last time and ran to get Arima, who was sitting off by himself, waiting for news. 

            "So…what's the deal?" Arima asked.

            "He's in love with Tsubaki." Yukino's face fell a little.

            "I thought so!" Arima his hit fist on his hand in a sort of 'ah ha' movement. 

            "Um…you did?" Yukino raised her eyebrows.

            "It takes a brooding man to know another brooding man." Arima answered easily. "I guess we're going to talk to Tsubaki, right?" Yukino nodded and the couple made their way to Tsubaki's room.

            Tsubaki was making herself something to eat and was slamming everything around when they got in there. 

            "We need to talk to you." Yukino told her importantly.

            "No you don't." Tsubaki snapped. 

            "Yes we do." Arima stopped Tsubaki with a hand on her arm. "Asaba's in love with you." 

            "Is not!" Tsubaki denied immediately. "He just isn't." 

            "Well he is, and you're going to have to deal with it." Yukino countered. "He's sitting there on the couch eating Fruit Loops, wearing _your _sex robe, and watching a League of Their Own over and over again."

            "He…is?" Tsubaki stopped for a moment. Yukino and Arima looked at each other and half a second later were dragging a kicking and yelling Tsubaki back towards their room. 

            It took their combined strengths but they threw Tsubaki into the room and then shut the door.

            "We aren't letting you out until its better!" Yukino yelled through the door.

            Tsubaki turned around only to see Asaba sitting on the couch wearing her sex robe, looking at her with big red eyes. 

            "Look at you." Tsubaki joked weakly. "When's the last time you got laid?"

            "Not for awhile." Asaba admitted. Tsubaki approached and sat down on the couch, wondering how this was going to go. "After Arima, I wouldn't sleep with anyone but you." 

            "What?" Tsubaki looked amazed. "You weren't sleeping with anyone else?"

            "Nope." Asaba shook his head. "I realized something when you were spending all that time with Tonami."

            "That stupid prick." Tsubaki interjected.

            "I realized I wanted to be just with you and I wanted you to just be with me. I don't see monogamy would be no fun, we sleep together all the time." Asaba sounded like he had been weighing the pros and cons for some time. "Yukino and Arima like it."

            "But…we've always slept with other people…" Tsubaki looked down at her hands. "Wouldn't it be weird?"

            "I don't want the rest of my life to be one cheap fuck after another." Asaba told her seriously. "We both deserve better." 

            "But what if it ruins our friendship?" Tsubaki asked, looking up at his dark brown eyes. 

            "Sometimes risks are worth taking." Asaba looked very mature at that moment. Like he had grown up inside. Why hadn't Tsubaki noticed before? "We tell everyone to live to the fullest and never be afraid of the future. That's what I'm trying to do." 

            _He's right…_

_            He's so right…_

_            But I don't know…I don't know what might happen…_

"It's already hurting us if you won't give it a change to work." Asaba pointed out. Tsubaki stared at him.

            _"Is this seat taken?" A ten year old Asaba asked her when she was the same age as they settled down for their first class together. _

_            "No." Tsubaki smiled at him. "I'm Tsubaki."_

_            "I'm Asaba." Asaba shook her hand. _

_            "HEY! ASABA!" A twelve year old Tsubaki leapt onto the honey-haired boy's back._

_            "Ow, Tsubaki…you're kind of heavy." Asaba joked and she hit him on the head._

_            "How do we know if we're doing this right?" A thirteen year old Tsubaki asked Asaba as they got under the covers together. _

_            "I don't know, it feels right." Asaba scratched his head. "We'll figure it out." _

Tsubaki was staring at him in shock.

            _I think…_

_            I think I'm in love with Asaba…_

_            He's always been there…_

_            No matter what…_

_            I won't be afraid of the future. Anything could happen to ruin our friendship. But I'm not going to be one of those things._

"You're too damn manipulative." Tsubaki grinned before leaning in to kiss him. 

------------------------

            "Why do you have so much luggage?" Maho asked in exasperation as she helped Yukino carry her suitcases. "Are you taking Arima home with you?"

            "Nah, he wouldn't fit in any of my suitcases." Yukino snuggled closer to Arima as they walked out of the school building. "But he lives in Tokyo too so…"

            "You guys are going to be revolting all summer?" Maho sighed. "Whatever."

            "We'll see how mum and dad are getting along when we get back!" Shibahime poked Kazuma. 

            "Summer vacation!" Aya stretched. "Pretty soon that idiot my mother will be here, I need to smoke as many cigarettes as I can before hand." She lit one up.

            "Don't smoke them like that. What do you want cancer by the time you're twenty?" Yukino rolled her eyes. 

            "If Aya wants to smoke, let her smoke." Tsubaki shrugged. 

            "Well, Tsubaki, I think we're due for one last quickie before our parents come." Asaba put an arm around Tsubaki's shoulders. 

            "_Again_?" Tsubaki pretended to sound annoyed. 

            "Yeah, what's that bring the total up to, five?" Yukino joked. 

            "Shut up, you're not going to be separated from your significant other for a whole summer." Asaba latched onto Tsubaki. 

            "Oh, your mom's coming Aya." Rika was standing on her tiptoes and shielding her eyes from the sun. "She doesn't look very happy." 

            "Shit." Aya threw her cigarette down and ground it out with her shoe. "Stall for time while I freshen up in the bathroom, okay Rika?"

            "Right." Rika nodded. 

            "It's weird to think that you know…" Arima looked at the school building. "That the year is already over."

            "And that Asaba passed. What did you do Tsubaki; swear to hold up on him unless he studied?" Yukino nudged the purple-eyed girl.

            "Psh, I would never have followed through on that. Asaba may be stupid but he can see an empty threat from a mile away." Tsubaki ruffled the honey-haired young man's hair.

            "I'm not stupid!" Asaba protested. 

            "We know." Tsubaki told him in a comforting voice. Yukino laughed. 

            "I guess we'll all see each other next year." Arima looked around the group. 

            "Yeah." Yukino hugged him. "Except you'll see me and Maho all summer." 

            "But it won't be the same without all of you." Arima gave her a tight and quick hug. "I thought you guys were really odd when I first met you."

            "And then you discovered the joys of Asaba sex." Tsubaki interrupted his little speech. 

            "And the joys of Yukino sex." Asaba added. 

            "Or the joys of sex in general." Shibahime giggled. 

            "Then I realized you guys _were_ really odd." Arima shook his head. "But then I realized I was a lot like you guys." 

            "Arima's a weirdo!" Asaba cheered. "But we still love him."

            "No Arima loving for you." Yukino stuck out her tongue. "Only for me." 

            "So I'll see you guys next year." Arima told the group and they quickly broke into squabbles about equally unimportant and silly things while there was still time to do so. 

            _This was probably the most educational year of schooling I've ever had. _

_            Wouldn't have traded it for the world._

----------------------

            Woo! I'm done! No more! Love this story to death and all that but when you finish something you're like all excited that you did. Or maybe that's just me. Thanks for reading everybody! Please check out my other fanfics if you want to read more of my stuff. I really don't think there's ever gonna be a sequel to this story. ^_^. See you space cowboy!


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